Chapter 1

　

　

At last winter was over and spring had begun, even though the air still had a small bite of the cold that had hung around longer than normal. I wasn’t here to see it but was told that in only two weeks all of the forest and bushes in Altoona Pennsylvania had turned a deep, healthy green. I had come to Altoona on a work crew working for a Wind Energy Company and quickly fell in love with the lush country side. The work I had come to do sucked but when I was off work I spent most of my time in the surrounding forest. I hadn’t been expecting to see all of this forest land when I had left California, and left all of my hiking and survival gear at home. Except my GPS and compass. It took me a few days but I got most of the things I needed. A basic first aid kit, snake bite kit, Bear spray and a defensive knife among other things. My first hike wasn’t anything special, I simply made my way about a half mile up a small river that was out back of the hotel where I spooked three rather fat deer. I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of them which was a bummer but I got over it.

The next day I woke up early with the intention of following the river several miles to see what I could find. I left my hotel room and went for a small breakfast with a few of my crew members before heading back to my room to get ready for my hike. I gathered all of my gear and tossed them into my hiking pack along with a large canteen of water and three water bottles just in case. I ran my normal sweep of the room to see if I had forgotten anything before strapping my knife to my belt and heading for the door. As I closed the door behind me I turned to my left just in time to see something black right in front of me. Now I have fast reflexes but this time I wasn’t fast enough. I caught the corner of a suitcase right above me left eye. I stumbled back a few feet swearing before steadying myself. I could already feel a small trickle of blood making its way down the side of my face. I kneeled down taking my pack off and reached for my first aid kit chuckling to myself thinking that I wasn’t expected to get hurt before even leaving the hotel.

“Oh my I’m so sorry,” I heard a woman say, a slight French accent tugging at her words. “I didn’t see you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just a scra…” I trailed off when the woman set her suitcase down and stepped over to me.

I was at a loss for words for two reasons. First the woman was absolutely stunning, long black hair that was tied back in a tail. Small yet beautiful facial features and a pair of slender glasses resting on her nose. She was dressed in business attire and wore it well. For that moment I forgot about the blood that was already dripping off my chin and onto my shirt. The second reason I was at a loss for words was because I saw that she was lugging nine suitcases and bags on her own. I remember looking at the bags then at her and thinking “Please tell me all those bags are not hers.

“Are you sure you are okay? Your bleeding.”

“Hundred percent fine.” I said taking out the first aid kit and removing a pad of gauze and a Band-Aid.

I cleaned up the blood around the cut and started unwrapping the band aid.

“Here let me.” The woman said taking the Band-Aid out of my hand before I could object.

She put the Band-Aid over the cut and I got to my feet and offered my hand to help hers. She took it and I pulled her to her feet and reached for my backpack.

“I’m terribly sorry, I’m running late for a conference call and haven’t even gotten to my room yet.”

“Need some help?” I asked as she started piling her bags on her arms and shoulders.

“Umm, please if you don’t mind.”

She had a beautiful smile and I was more than willing to help her, what kind of a lady would I be if I didn’t offer her help. I grabbed most of the heavier looking bags and followed her down the hall to her room, only six doors down from my own. She opened the door and we brought in all the bags which were indeed hers.

“And you are all set.” I said setting the last bag on her bed.

“Thank you so much. You have been a big help even after I almost knocked you out.”

“Hey no problem, knowing me I’ll get hurt worst than this at work today.”

She laughed and smiled at me as she crossed the room to where I was standing, stopping only a foot from me.

“I’m Clare Beaufort” She said reaching out her hand.

“Kaite McCreedy.” I said taking her hand.

“Thank you for your help Mrs. McCreedy”

“Just Kaite please, and it would be Miss I am not married.”

“Ok. Listen I really need to make this conference call but I’ll see you later.”

“Sounds good. I’m on my way out for a hike but I’ll be back in about four hours if everything goes okay.”

“I never was into the outdoor thing.”

“I live for it.”

She thanked me again before I left then closed the door. I headed out the back door of the hotel and made my way down to the river. I took a heading with my compass like I always do before heading anywhere I‘m not familiar with. I was heading North West 310 degrees. I wrote it down on a piece of paper along with the time I was planning on being back and gave it to the front desk with instructions on what to do if I didn’t come back by the time I said I would then headed into the woods to see what I could find.

It was a rather great hike, I took several pictures of the forest and wildlife as I walked along the river. I even took a picture of a bear that was on the other side of clearing I found. The bear was too far away for my little camera to get a clear picture which really sucked, it was the first bear I had seen in the wild. I moved away from the clearing and putted around for another half hour before making my way back to the hotel.

It only took me about forty-five minutes to make it back to the hotel when it took me over two hours to get to the clearing where I saw the bear. I let the front desk know I was back before heading to my room to take a shower before work. After the shower I got dressed in my normal work clothes and headed for the door. I wanted to get something to eat before I went to work but like the last time as soon as I walked out the door I was crashed into by Clare sending us both to the floor and papers flying.

“Ok we have got to stop meeting like this.” I said getting off the ground.

“Yes we do.” Clare agreed as she started picking up her papers.

As with the first time I helped her with her things, and like a scene out of a sappy romance movie we both reached for the same piece of paper with my hand coming to rest on top of hers. I not too quickly lifted my hand off of hers and she tucked the paper into her folder.

“I wont keep you I’m guessing you are in a hurry.”

“I am, I wanted a nap after the conference call and over slept. Now I’m gonna be late for my first meeting.”

She got to her feet with my help again and almost sprinted down the hall. I expected to hear her slam into someone else on her way out of the hotel but heard nothing. I went and got lunch at one of the local diners near the hotel and went back to my room. I ate half of it and put the other half in my mini fridge to take to works with me. I grabbed a fast nap before heading to the hotel lobby and waited for the rest of the crew. Work was like it was everyday, shitty. And like I told Clare ealier that day I did get hurt worst than the small cut on my forehead. I sanding disk broke lose from my grinder and smacked me right in the center of my chest between my breasts. It hit hard enough to knock me back a few feet causing me to smack the back on my head on a wind blade. I cussed and laughed all at the same time. And finally the day was over. I got back to the hotel around midnight and went right to bed.

The next morning I woke up and got ready to go back into the woods to the spot where I saw the bear to see if I could get a picture of it. I ran my check of my room and went to the door. I opened it and was about to step out but stopped myself remembering the last few times I had gone out the door.

“Is it safe to come out?” I asked mostly out of a joke.

“Yes it is.” Clare said from just outside my room.

I stepped out and smiled at her and she smiled right back.

“Looks like we both learned.” I said.

“Yes it does.”

She was dressed in her business attire again with a briefcase and folder stuffed with papers. She continued to smile her sweet smile and was close enough to me so I could smell her perfume. Jasmine my favorite flower.

“Busy day?” I asked directing my attention to her folder.

“Normal workload.” She said., her accent a little softer than before, maybe softened due to her smile.

I pulled my door closed and we started down the hallway, her high heels clacking on the polished wooden floor as we headed for the dining area. We both ate rather healthy and talked a little over breakfast. I learned that she was a new employee with a large communications firm in France and her first job was to set up ties with another firm in Altoona. We seemed to be hitting it off rather well but as the quote goes, all good things must come to an end. I wanted to get on my way to look for that bear I had named Smoky and Clare had to get to work. We both threw our plates in the trash and I started for the side door of the dining area and was surprised to see that she was following.

“I wanted to see this river you were talking about.” She said when I stopped to look at her.

Her high heels sank half way into the moist ground as I led her across the small grassy area to the trees next to the river. She leaned forward a little to see farther down the river and smiled.

“To tell you the truth, I still don’t see exactly what you love about this but it’s still lovely.”

She looked on a moment longer before saying goodbye and heading back into the hotel. I watched her walk away and smiled before heading down to the river and making my way to where I had seen the bear the day before. About halfway to the clearing I stopped and realized that I had forgotten to file my flight plan with the front desk. I couldn’t believe I did that, it was basic safety I always did. I could not help but wonder if I had forgotten because I was watching Clare. I decided that I didn’t want to turn around even though I knew it could cost me my life if something happened. Soon I had found the clearing and set up my tripod next a large tree and concealed myself in the surrounding foliage. I waited for almost two hours but didn’t see anything. I knew that if I didn’t head back soon I might not make it back with enough time to get lunch before going to work.

The next few days went the same way, breakfast with Clare, Hiking to the clearing to try and get a picture of Smoky without seeing him then heading back to the hotel and work. When Saturday came around I was up at the same time with the same plane in mind, eat breakfast then head into the forest. I grabbed all my gear and went to the door and stopped.

“Is it safe?” I asked.

“ Safe as you are gonna get with me around.” Came the usual response.

It had become a joke with us and it always made us snicker. I stepped out of my room and turned to look at her and was shocked at what I saw. Instead of her usual business attire she was dressed in a black tank top and short kaki shorts with hiking boots. For the first time since I met her five days ago I got to take in her full form. If I only had one word to describe her it would be “wow!”. It took me a few seconds to gather my mind and find words to fill my open mouth.

“Looks like you are dressed for an adventure.” I said.

“A man at wall-mart helped me with this.”

I made a mental note to thank that man, he had good taste. I led her into my room and started looking through her bag. The man also knew his gear, she had all the survival gear she would need and also a much better GPS than I had.

“Is it ok?” She asked watching me look over the items.

“Well stocked from what I see.”

I repacked her bag and we headed for the dining area and grabbed a small breakfast and talked like normal. She told me she wanted to see the clearing I had been talking about so she got herself all the hiking gear she could get. I acted cool, like it was no big thing but in truth I was a nervous wreck. Here was this beautiful woman who had no idea what she was getting into. She was completely trusting me with her life but I was experienced enough to know I can handle anything that happened. We finished eating and this time I remembered to file the normal flight plan with the front desk and off we went. I led her through the Grassy area and to the bank of the river and we began following it. We talked as we walked until we came to an area of the river where the bank was washed away. I stopped and looked at her then at her boots.

“Are your boots waterproof?” I asked.

“Umm I don’t think so.”

“We can’t go any farther on land for about fifty yards, I can carry you if you don’t want to get your feet wet.”

“I’d rather not get my feet wet just yet.”

For the next fifty yards I carried my backpack on my chest and Clare on my back piggyback style. This gave me a good chance to feel her bare legs. They were smooth as silk and I just wanted to run my hands up and down them but this was not the time. Not to mention I did not know if she was at all into girls or just friendly. Just before I set her down her arms tightened around my chest. For a second I thought I scared her when I started setting her down but quickly realized that in a subtle way she was giving me a hug. I smiled and set her down on the rocky river bank and we continued on. We talked idly on the way to the clearing, mostly about the trees and what plants were poisonous, what to do if you get it on your skin things of that nature. I led her slowly along the river pointing out several rabbits that had wondered up to the river and were watching us. Clare giggled and said that the rabbits looked like Thumper out of the Disney movie Bambi. In truth I never thought of them like that before, being a hunter of many years I had always seen them as prey rather than cute cartoon characters.

As we walked along the bank we came across some tracks that I knew to be deer tracks. I looked closer at the tacks and saw that they were slowly starting to fill with water from the River and I knew that the deer were here less than two minutes before we had came around. I told Clare to drop her pack and follow me as I set my pack down on the bank. We slowly followed the tracks along a well traveled path until we reached a small clearing. I stopped and squatted down and waved to Clare for her to come up and get down. In the field we saw three deer slowly walking towards the opposite side of the clearing. It was a mother and two fawns that couldn’t have been more than a month old.

Clare inhaled softly in an “oh that’s so cute” manner, all three deer stopped dead and turned their heads to look right at us. I couldn’t believe what Clare did next, she actually stood up and waved at them. Right away all three of them broke into a run and were gone. She sat down in the middle of the path with a pouting look and looked at me. I laughed squeezed her shoulders before she stood back up and we started heading back to the river. She was so excited about seeing the deer she was jumping up and down along the path ahead of me. It was a little hard for me to keep watch on the path when my eyes kept following Clare’s jumping body. However I was still keeping half an eye on the path and saw something move right in the middle of the path just a few yards from Clare.

“Clare stop!” I yelled and ran up to her pulling her back and she fell back landing on top of me.

“Hey!” She complained struggling against me.

I let her go and stood up quickly and stepped in front of her and pointed to the ground. She looked to where I was pointing and took a step behind me. In the middle of the road bathing in a patch of sunlight was a large Timber Rattlesnake that was coiled and ready to strike. I knew the threat and backed away keeping my arms spread out blocking Clare from the snake.

“What are you going to do?” Clare asked a little shaken as I pulled my knife out of the sheath by my side.

“Move it out of the path.” I said picking up a branch that was laying on the ground to the side of the path.

I snapped all of the twigs off the branch with the knife and put it back on my side. The branch was about six foot long giving me plenty of reach. Clare was holding onto my shirt as I reached out with the branch and slid it under the rattling snake and slowly lifted it off the ground. It hung off of the branch still rattling loudly and watching us. I walked several yards off of the path before setting the snake down along with the branch and watched as it slithered off away from us. I let out a sigh and realized that I had been holding my breath since I picked the snake off the ground.

Clare sighed as well and laid her head against my back and thanked me for saving her. I told her that she simply startled it by jumping around on the path. She nodded and we headed back to the river and grabbed out packs and continued walking along the bank. We stopped and rested a few times under the shade of trees, I didn’t need to rest my self but Clare was new to the hiking world but she was holding her own. On one of our stops just under half a mile from the clearing while sitting under a large tree Clare leaned against me and wrapped her arms around my arm and sighed.

“Cozy?” I asked looking down at her.

“This is the most relaxed I have been in months.” She said squeezing my arm again.

We sat like that for several minutes before continuing the rest of the way to the clearing. I couldn’t help but notice that she was walking closer to me than she had before and now and then her hand would brush up against mine. As we rounded the last bend of the river before the clearing her hand brushed up against mine again only this time I wrapped my fingers with hers and squeezed her hand. We walked the rest of the way to the clearing hand in hand and only getting closer. I walked her to the spot I had been setting up all week and set up like always. I sat with my back up against the tree and put my arm around her as she leaned against me.

We sat like that for over an hour without saying a word until the call of nature forced me to let her go and stand up. As it turned out I wasn’t the only one that needed to answer that specific call. After a few minutes we met back at the tree only this time I had the camera facing the tree.

“Oh my, what’s this?” Clare asked seeing me standing behind the camera.

“Well remember when I said that I’m looking for beautiful things to photograph?’

“I do.”

“Well there is nothing more beautiful than you within a thousand miles.”

She smiled and blushed brightly which was exactly what I wanted. The camera beeped faintly as it took the picture. She laughed a little and smiled brighter than I had ever seen anyone before. I took several pictures before setting the timer on the camera and moving next to her and sat down. I leaned forward and put my arms around her shoulders and rested my head next to hers. That picture was one of the most romantic pictures I had ever seen, let alone been a part of and photographed. However it was nothing compared to the next one. I readjusted the camera and had Clare stand up. I set the timer again and went to stand behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. Before I knew it she was turning around in my arms and looked in my eyes. It was like aother scene out of a romance movie, we both started to lean into each other, our lips touching lightly several times before she closed the final distance. As we kissed a wind picked up blowing the last of the dead leaves off of the tree above us, the leaves were falling around us and her hair was lightly waving in the wind when the camera beeped.

We didn’t even notice, I don’t think we would have noticed anything in that moment in time. After only several short seconds we separated. Neither of us made any attempt at moving away from each other, in fact I pulled her even closer and held her tighter. I had managed to lose myself in her eyes, I never wanted to look away. She must have been having the same idea I was because she just kept looking right back in my eyes as I gazed in hers. I don’t know how long we stayed like that but it couldn’t have been more than two minutes before she leaned in and we kissed again. If I even tried to put into words how sweet her lips were I would die of old age before I could even scratch the surface. Her kiss was simply intoxicating and made me go weak in the knees, the only thing I could do to keep myself on my feet was to hold her tighter.

A moment later we ended the kiss and this time we moved away from each other but kept looking in each other‘s eyes. I started packing up my camera as she sat back down and wrapped her arms around her knees and watched me. Once the camera was packed I helped her to her feet and we started back towards the hotel holding hands. We took the same route back through the river only stopping one time on the way. It was at that spot when she turned to me and said something in French that I didn’t understand then kissed me. When I asked her what she said she wouldn’t tell me saying that I would have to find that out on my own. She smiled at me and I knew that whatever she had said it was a good thing. We rested a few more minutes before continuing the rest of the way to the hotel. I could tell that she was tired even though she tried not to show it. We stood in the hallway in front of my door for a few minutes talking about the rest of the day. Before I headed into my room I pulled her into me and kissed her again and asked if I could see her later that night.

She smiled and said something in French again before kissing me and heading down the hall to her own room. I watched her as she walked and stopped in front of her room, she looked down the hall at me and smiled before disappearing through her door. I found my own key and went into my room and sat on my bed and simply smiled. The whole day so far had been unexpectedly pleasant, I couldn’t help but wonder what the rest of the day would bring.

　

　

Chapter 2

　

　

I was standing in front if the mirror that was hanging on the bathroom door trying to get my tie straight but not having much success. I was dressed in my best because I was going to see if Clare wanted to go get something to eat at the Olive Garden that was across the street from the hotel. I was going to wear my suit but decided against wearing the jacket seeing as if she wanted to go out I might be a bit over dressed for our first date. So instead I only had on my suit pants and a nice white dress shirt and white bra with a black and grey tie. I had been fumbling with the tie for almost five minutes trying to get it right when there was a knock at the door. I stepped over to the door and when I opened it I was surprised for the second time that day.

If I thought Clare looked great in her hiking clothes, she was nothing short of stunning now. She was wearing a black sleeveless dress that was to say the least form fitting. Normally her hair was pulled back in a tail, this time it was hanging loose. It was falling down over her shoulders with a very slight waves that looked natural rather than made with an iron. The dress stopped just below her knees showing off her perfectly toned and tanned legs. I don’t know how long I stood staring at her but she looked at me and asked if she could come in. I was speechless, all I could do was step out of her way and let her in. She gave me a kiss as she slid past me leaving a small dab of red lipstick on my lips.

“So how do I look?” She asked doing a little twirl so I could see her.

“Wow.” Was all I could say.

She smiled and came up next to me and wiped the dab of lipstick off my lips with her thumb and reached for my tie and quickly tied it perfectly. I laughed a little as I tolled her that I had been trying to get it right for some time. She wrapped her arms around me and said that she was glad she could help.

“I never knew you were such a butch girl.” she said with a slight giggle.

I explained that I never felt right in a dress but I thought I looked handsome in a suit. She agreed and kissed me again before leaning against me.

“I am going to guess by the way you are dressed and here with me that you would like to go do something tonight.” I said wrapping an arm around her waist.

“I was coming to see if you wanted to do somewhere for dinner. Looks like you had the same idea.” she said running her head along the tie between my breasts.

I held her for a moment softly running my hand along her back to her shoulders and back down again. I could lightly smell her jasmine perfume and what smelled like wild berries in her hair. I didn’t want to let her go but my stomach was sending urgent food messages, slowly I let her slide out of my arms and kissed her one more time. We walked out of the hotel and headed across the street to the Olive Garden where we were shown to our table by one of the hostesses. We took our seats across from each other at the small table that was in the center of a mid sized room that was decorated to look like an Italian vineyard.

Clare ordered a bottle of wine that for the life of me I couldn’t pronounce and I simply ordered a beer before we began looking over the menu. It didn’t take me long to decide what I wanted seeing as I didn’t know what half the things on the menu was. By the time the waitress came back with our drinks we both were ready to order. I went with the Fettuccini Alfredo like normal and Clare ordered something I couldn’t pronounce again. We sat back sipping at our drinks waiting for our meals to arrive talking about whatever came to mind when Clare set her glass down and looked across the table at me.

“Can I ask you something?” She asked looking in my eyes.

“Of course.” I said setting my beer down.

She looked down at her glass of wine and began swirling it around. I leaned forward looking at her a little concerned about what she wanted to ask me.

“Sweetheart what’s wrong?” I asked using a sweet pet name.

She smiled and looked into my eyes again then back down at her glass. She was struggling to find the words she was needing to ask me what she wanted to ask. After a moment she looked me in the eyes and gave me a halfway smile.

“Umm, your not just playing with me are you?” She asked, her eyes were full of fear of my answer and for a moment I couldn’t answer her.

“You mean am I just looking for someone to have sex with?” I asked after a moment of hesitation.

“Well, yes.”

I stood up and I could tell from the look in her eyes that she thought I was going to leave. Instead I picked up my chair and set it back down so that I was sitting right next to her looking in her eyes. I reached out and took both of her hands in mine and smiled at her.

“Clare,” I said squeezing her hands. “Never before in my life have I ever gone after a woman with only the thought of sex on my mind.”

She looked at me and her halfway smile turned into a full bright smile that made me weak in the knees.

“Today in the forest,” I continued, “when we kissed under that tree it surprised me. I wasn’t expecting that nor any of the other times. I am here now to spend time with you, not to get you in bed.”

She smiled even wider as she leaned in and kissed me, I heard a few disapproving murmurs from the people in the place but ignored them. Clare said the same thing in French that she said under the tree we rested under earlier in the day then kissed me again. I told her that one of these days she was gonna have to tell me what that means. She laughed and said no, telling me that I would have to find that out on my own. I laughed and carried my chair back over to my side of the table and finished off the rest of my beer.

“I’ll be right back.” Clare said taking a sip of her wine and standing up.

She ran her hand from my chest to my shoulder then walked off. The waitress came over a minute later with our dinner and another beer for me then walked off again.

“You don’t speak French do you?” a woman asked from the table right next to us.

“No I don’t.” I said turning to the woman.

“Want to know what she said?”

“Yes.”

“She said that she thinks she is falling in love with you.”

She leaned back to her table just as Clare came walking back into the room. I was smiling as she sat down and she matched my smile with one of her own. We were about half way through our meals when the waitress walked over with a lit candle and a bright red rose. She set the candle down in the middle of the table and handed Clare the rose. I looked past Clare at the woman who had been sitting next to us and she gave me a thumbs up. I knew she had set this up to make it look like I had set it up when Clare was away. When I looked back Clare was staring at me with a shocked look. Her mouth was open in a surprised smile and all I could do was smile back.

After we finished eating Clare moved her chair next to mine and brought the still mostly full bottle of wine with her and filled her glass.

“A toast.” She said raising her glass.

She went on to say the entire toast in French and all I could do was sit there until she was finished thin tap my glass to hers. She said several more toasts in French that night making me chuckle every time. Almost an hour later the bottle of wine was gone along with Clare’s ability to sit under her own power. She was leaning against me and laughing at everything I said rather it was meant to be funny or not. My own head was swimming and I knew that even if I stopped drinking right then I was still going to be as drunk as Clare soon. I flagged down the waitress and asked for the check slurring my words only slightly. She handed me the check and I started reaching for my wallet when I gasped. The wine that Clare had ordered was over a hundred dollars. I shrugged and continued reaching for my wallet.

“I got it sweetie.” Clare said slurring badly.

“It’s ok.” I almost croaked.

“Don’t worry.” Clare said holding up a credit card. “My company will pay.”

I laughed and let my wallet slide back in my pocket. Once the check was settled we headed out of the restaurant into the cool night air and headed for the hotel.

“Its kind of cold.” Clare said putting her arms around me to keep warm.

I put my arms around her bare shoulders and ran my hands over her skin rapidly to help warm her up. It was then that I noticed something about her that I hadn’t noticed all night, she wasn’t wearing a bra. With our arms around each other we walked across the street and into the hotel saying hello to the night clerk at the front desk then headed down the hall to our rooms. As we came to my room Clare stopped and looked into my eyes.

“I guess the is where we say goodnight.” I said wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close.

“No,” She said leaning her head against my chest. “I’m not ready to say goodnight, I…I.” Her next words were in French but from what the woman next to us at dinner said I understood “Love you.”. She was saying she loved me.

“I love you too.” I said lifting her head off my chest and looking in her eyes.

She looked back in my eyes with tears filling her own and smiled, we both leaned into each other and pressed our lips together. I was leaning against my door as we kissed. Two of my co-workers walked by and I heard them laugh and say “Go Katie go.” we both ignored them as our kiss deepened. Her tongue slid over my lips and into my mouth, I could taste the wine she had been drinking. Even tough the wine tasted bitter her lips were still just as sweet as before.

She began running her hands over my chest cupping my breasts momentarily then moving to my shoulders then back down again. As she ran her hands down again she slipped them into my pockets and removed my room key and opened the door and we fell inside. She landed on top of me and instantly her lips were back on mine. I managed to move us far enough into the room to close the door giving us some privacy. Once the door was closed Clare sat up on her heels and grabbed the bottom of her dress and in one motion pulled it over her head. That was the second time that night I was surprised. Just like her bra she also wasn’t wearing any underwear. Here I was pinned to the ground fully clothed with a completely naked woman on top of me.

I began to unbutton the bottom buttons of my shirt and kick off my shoes as Clare reached for my tie, just as fast as she tied it she had removed it. She helped me unbutton the rest of the buttons on my shirt and pulled it off. She laid back on top of me pressing her lips and body to mine as she reached for my belt. I could tell that she wasn’t new at any of this as in only seconds I was just as naked as Clare with her laying on top of me and quickly trying get her fingers into me.

“Clare wait.” I said gently pulling her hand away from my pussy.

“What? Don’t you want to?”

“Oh I do, just not on the floor.”

We both stood up and walked to the bed before kissing again as we laid down. Clare rolled on top of me and this time easily and quickly slid her fingers into me making me take a sharp breath. She leaned down and pressed her lips to mine.

“Now you are not going anywhere.” She whispered looking in my eyes as she started to pump her fingers in and out of me.

“Why would I want to go anywhere?” I thought closing my eyes. “I’m already in heaven.”

She was running her thumb over my clit making me moan louder and louder as an orgasm quickly approached. I started bucking my hips under her knowing that I was going to cum very soon. She must have known it as well because she all of a sudden pulled her fingers out from inside me. I moaned in frustration but she juts smiled at me and started licking my wetness off of her fingers.

“You don’t cum until I say you can.” She said with a devilish smile.

I nodded and she started scooting up my body till her pussy was hovering over my face. I could see her own wetness glistening off of her lips and wanted to just plunge my tongue inside of her. But I was a much better lover than that. I started placing soft kisses on the inside of her thighs slowly moving along till I was facing her beautiful pussy again. I traced my tongue along the outline of her pussy and just lightly ran it over her clit. I refocused my eyes so I could see her and her head was leaning forward and her eyes were shut. I watched as she rubbed her breasts with both hands and squeezed her nipples. I gave her clit another flick of my tongue and her whole body shuttered.

I worked on her pussy as gently as I could for as long as I could before lust took over. I grabbed her hips and pulled her pussy down onto my face and started to devour her pussy. I slid my tongue in as deeply as I could force it and tried my best to lick every inch of her pussy. She started to moan and gyrate her hips completely covering my face with her juices. The whole time I was pumping my own hips of the bed as if I was the one being eaten out. All at once Clare grabbed hold of my hair and pulled be into her pussy as she moaned loudly. I pushed my tongue inside of her and felt her pussy squeezing it. Her orgasm lasted for half a minute before she fell backwards landing right beside me. It took her a minute to recover enough to roll over so that her face was inline with my pussy. I was so horny by this time that it only took a few flicks of her tongue against my clit to send me over the edge. I came and came and came until I was so exhausted I simply collapsed.

Clare kissed her way up my body giving both of my nipples a kiss and a flick of her tongue before she laid her head down on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly for several minutes before I heard the sound her snoring slightly. I smiled and kissed her on the top of the head and slid out from under her. I slowly pulled the covers out from under her before I slid under them myself and pulled them back up to our shoulders. I snuggled down into her and wrapped my arms around her again and fell asleep myself more satisfied and happy than I could ever remember being in my life.

It was after midnight when I awoke with my arms around Clare’s waist. My head was still slightly swimming from the remnants of the beer but I felt remarkably good. I leaned forward and kissed Clare on her bare shoulders and moved closer. I nestled my head next to hers and took a deep breath. I could still smell her jasmine perfume and the wild berries in her hair and I smiled. I really was falling in love with her, I was happy about that but I couldn’t kid myself. How long was our relationship going to last? A week? Two tops? She was going to have to go back to France when her job here was finished. I felt my throat start to close up as I chocked back some tears.

“I don’t want you to leave,” I whispered kissing the back of her head. “I love you.”

Clare stirred in her sleep and let out a sigh and I tightened my arms around her and slid closer to her and held her softly. A moment later I fell back asleep with my arms still tightly wrapped around her waist. Whatever was going to happen with us down the road we would deal with it when it happened. For now all I wanted was to have her in my arms and by my side.

The sun was just starting to brighten the sky when I woke up again. Clare had turned in her sleep and had her head resting on my chest. I reached around her and put my arm on her shoulder just trying to keep her in my arms. I was about to close my eyes and go back to sleep when Clare stirred again.

“You awake hun?”

She slid her arms around me and mumbled a yes. She looked up at me with sleepy eyes and smiled. I leaned down and kissed her forehead and smiled back. She inched up towards me and pressed her lips to mine.

“Did you sleep well?” I asked touching my nose to hers.

“I did. You?”

I kissed her on the lips and nodded. She smiled and threw a leg across my hips and lay on top of me. I knew what she wanted and I wasn’t about to resist or complain.

I don’t know if was because we didn’t have any alcohol in our systems or if it was just because we were rested but that mornings “activities” was simply the best I had ever had before. Clare must have really enjoyed it as well, she had moaned and screamed out several times in French. Whatever she had said must have been dirty because when I asked her what she said she turned several shades of red and slid under the covers. She mumbled something else in French then pulled the covers down just past her eyes and looked at me. It was easy to get lost in her eyes but I was not going to let her avoid the question. I grabbed the sheets out of her hands and threw them off the bed reviling her nude body. She yelped and tried to cover herself but I grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head and straddled her hips completely pinning her to the bed.

I began kissing her lips and nibbling on her ears then kissing my way to her neck hitting all of the spots I had learned would drive her wild. After several minutes of that I took both of her hands in one of mine and began running my free hand over her body. She was squirming under me and breathing raggedly as I continued to tease and torment her with every kiss and squeeze. Soon she was so turned on that she was begging me to make love to her. I told her that I would only make love to her if she told me what she had said. She turned several shades of red again then whispered in my ear what she had said. I was already well on my way to being aroused but hearing those words coming from her had me raging horny instantly. I let her hands go and got off her hips and went between her legs as I looked in her eyes and gave her what she was begging for for the second time that morning.

It was early afternoon when we finally got out of bed and went for something to eat. We had a nice breakfast at one of the many diners near the hotel before getting a cab and heading to the mall several miles down the road. We spent most of the day simply walking hand in hand through the stores, window shopping mostly. She had bought a few souvenirs for her friends back home in France and a new dress for dinner later that night. She wouldn’t let me see her in the dress saying that the anticipation was worth the wait, I was sure it would be.

It was just starting to get dark when we got back to the hotel and I suggested that we hit the hot tub out back to relax a little before heading out to dinner. She agreed and we went to get changed and met back in the hallway. She was wearing a black silk robe over her swimming suit that flowed like dark water over her skin as she walked. We headed to the dining area and out the side door to the patio where the hot tub was waiting under a gazebo. There were small Viola candles surrounding the hot tub and rose petals floating in the water. Clare looked at the hot tub then back at me and asked how I had set this up.

“When you went to the rest room I called the hotel and they set it up for us.”

She looked at me and smiled before we stepped up the steps and under the gazebo. There was a bottle of Champaign and two glasses in a floating bucket filled with ice with a note saying if we needed anything to call the front desk. I climbed into the water and poured two glasses of Champaign and turned towards Clare with them in my hands. She was standing on the edge of the hot tub slowly untying her robe before letting it slide off her shoulders stopping it at her hips and looking at me before letting it slide the rest of the way to the ground. She pushed it back with her foot leaving her standing on the edge of the hot tub in a small black two piece bikini. It was a mirror image of my own only mine was black with white dots.

She stepped into the hot tub and waded up to me taking one of the glasses. She kissed me before sitting down and taking a sip from her glass.

“What did I do to deserve a girlfriend as wonderful as you?”

I smiled hearing her refer to me as her girlfriend. I went and sat next to her and put my arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the neck. I knew how much she liked that and smiled again when I felt her shudder. It didn’t take us long to empty the bottle and soon we were just sitting in the hot water in each others arms enjoying ourselves. Finally Clare stood up with rose petals sticking to her body and went for her robe saying she was getting hungry. We headed back to our rooms and got ready for dinner. I dressed in my suit pants again and had a burgundy dress shirt on with a blue tie. I was just reaching for my shoes when Clare knocked on the door.

She was dressed in easily the sexiest dress I had ever seen in my life. It was light blue with glitter sparkling all over it. It went down to her knees with a split on the right side that went from her knee all the way to mid thigh. The top was hanging loosely around her breasts and the straps were almost falling off. She smiled and kissed me softly as she turned around and asked if I would zip her up. I looked and saw that the zipper was still down, and it slowly zipped it up and watched as the dress tightened around her chest and shoulders. I also noticed that the price tag was hanging off the back of the dress and took it of for her. As I stood behind her she reached up and put her hand on the side of my head as I kissed her neck breathing in her perfume.

“I love you.” I whispered in her ear as I pulled her close to me.

She sighed through her smile and said she loved me too. I kept kissing her neck and shoulders as I ran my hands down her sides to her hips. She moaned and turned around in my arms and looked he in they eyes. She put her lips to my ear and whispered “Later” before pressing her lips to mine. I held her for a moment before letting her go and opened the door for her. We walked out past the front desk saying hello to the woman working and headed outside. We weren’t in too much of a rush to get to the restaurant so we took our time walking side by side down the street. One of the things I always liked about staying in Small Town USA was that at night the stars literally filled the sky. The glitter on Clare’s dress was sparkling almost as much as the stars above us making me look rather dull.

We walked past several other couples who were out on an evening walk saying hello to each of them. After walking for about a half an hour we arrived at the Red Lobster and headed in. Clare laughed when she saw everything that was decorating the place and said that it was like being at the ocean. We were led to our table by a young man dressed like a sailor and gave him our drink orders. We both only ordered sodas seeing as we both wanted to remain sober so we didn’t have a hangover for work the following day.

I had always been a shrimp maniac so when I saw all you can eat shrimp I just couldn’t resist. Clare snickered and challenged me to a competition to see who could eat more shrimp. Not being one who could pass up a challenge I accepted without hesitation, she smiled and told me that I would be sorry. We gave our orders to our waiter and sat talking about what we wanted to do the whole week. She reached across the table and took my hands in hers and smiled.

“I have an idea.” She said, “Lets go back to that clearing on Saturday and have a picnic under our tree.”

“Our tree?” I laughed, “We own it now?”

“Well we shared our first kiss under that tree as well as our first photos together. So yes it is ours.”

I nodded and kissed her hands as our waiter came back with our first plates of shrimp and fries. We both sat and ate four plates of shrimp and were both on the brink of exploding before we conceded and called it a tie. We slowly stood up from the table and settled the check before heading outside. We walked back to the hotel even slower than we had walked to the restaurant giving us the chance to digest a little. We were feeling normal again as we walked into my room. As soon as the door was closed I put my arms around Clare and pulled her against me.

“You just can’t wait can you?” She asked with a smile.

“I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you all night. Now I don’t want to keep my hands off of you.”

I leaned in and kissed her softly as I reached behind her and pulled the zipper of her dress down. She pulled away from the kiss and slid the straps off her arms then stepped back in and kissed me again with the dress hanging on her hips. We moved to the bed and lay in each other’s arms simply kissing and pressing our bodies together for several minutes until Clare pulled away and looked me in the eyes. She whispered softly that she loved me before sliding her dress the rest of the way of and kicked it of the bed. I whispered that I loved her too and pulled her back into the kiss.

　

Chapter 3

　

No matter what I did on weekends they never seemed to last long enough for me. The last few days was no exception, in fact all the time I spent with Clare made the weekend pass by like a breeze. The alarm yelled it single tone alert and I smacked it hard enough to knock it off the nightstand. The bed shifted as Clare rolled onto her side and put her arms around my waist. She smiled at me with sleepy eyes before kissing me softly. I smiled back at her and said good morning. After she kissed me several more times she slowly slid out of the bed and stretched with a soft groan. Her hair was crushed to the side of her face giving her the very sexy morning look.

She began getting dressed for work as I lay in the bed watching her fuss with her hair in the reflection of the mirror that took up a large section of the wall. I watched as she combed out all the tangled in her hair then began wrapping it up in a bun and securing it with one of the pens from the hotel. After several more minutes of preparation Clare had transformed herself from an early morning mess as she called it to the beautiful well dressed woman I had first met in the hallway. Finally just before grabbing her work folder she walked to the side of the bed and sat down next to me and leaned down to kiss me. As she pressed her lips to mine I just couldn’t resist reaching up and pulling the pen out of her hair sending her hair falling down around her shoulders.

“Sweetheart, that’s not nice.” She said with a smile as she took the pen out of my hand and wound her hair back into the bun and fastened it again.

I smiled back at her and pulled her back down to kiss her again before letting her get off of the bed. She told me that she would be getting off late but that she would be in her room when I got back to the hotel. I told her I loved her before she headed out of the door. She turned and smiled at me and said she loved me too then headed out of the door leaving me alone. I lay in the bed for several minutes just looking at the door as if waiting for her to come back through though I knew she would not before turning over and pulling her pillow up against my body. I could still smell her on the pillow and slowly I drifted back to sleep knowing that this week would be a long one before the weekend came along.

When the weekend finally rolled around Clare was out of bed in trying to get me up before the sun had even begun to rise. She had me by the arm and was trying to pull me out of the bed but having little luck doing so. Finally I simply tugged on her arm and pulled her back onto the bed and wrapped my arms and legs around her. She struggled for a minute before surrendering and lay still. I chuckled and told her that we would leave once the sun was up. She groaned saying that it would be hours till the sun came up. Even though the room was dark and I couldn’t see her I knew she was giving me her best impression of a pouting puppy. I was glad I couldn’t see her because I would probably give in and get up. A minute later She pulled free and flopped on her side to try and go back to sleep and I wrapped my arms around her again, only this time it was much more intimate.

A few hours later we were out of bed and dressed for the day and had our bags ready to go. We headed for the usual breakfast before heading out on the trail for “Our tree”. Like our first time I carried Clare through the stream and set her down on the rocks. We walked hand in hand the whole way stopping just a few times to rest or take pictures of the Flora and Fauna along the stream. We didn’t see any deer this time but there were plenty of rabbits and Raccoons walking around to keep Clare happy along the way. After a while we arrived at the clearing and I set up my camera like always. Clare came up behind me and slipped a hand down the front of my pants and wiggled a finger into my pussy making me moan and shake as I was setting it up. I was wet instantly and before I knew it she was unbuttoning my pants and pushing them to the ground along with my panties. I forgot about the camera and let her pull me down onto the grass and started to work o getting my boots off. As soon as they were off my pants and panties followed and she simply threw herself into my pussy. I wrapped my legs around her neck and let her go down on my all the while moaning like a slut. I had never before had sex outside before and it was amazing. The feel of the sun and wind on my body as Clare licked and fingered my pussy sent me over the edge in no time.

I sat up and stripped off my shirt and bra and quickly stripped Clare nude as well. Just when I was about to start going down on her she wiggled out from under me and started running into the field yelling that I would have to catch her if I wanted her. The game was on. We played nude sex tag in the field for hours before we finally got dressed again and headed back to the hotel. We had sex one more time in my room before we threw on our swimsuits and headed for the hot tub again. All that running and sex wore us out.

We sat in the hot tub for several minutes just kissing and holding onto each other before several other guests in the hotel came out and joined us in the tub. There were 2 men about our age that started flirting with us right away but we ignored them and got out of the tub Clare said she wanted to go back to the room where we could be alone. I didn’t argue and followed her to our towels. We walked back to my room and I asked her if she wanted to go out for dinner. She said she didn’t want to go anywhere for the rest of the night, she just wanted to be alone with me. So I did the only thing I could think of: I ordered a pizza. When I hung up the phone I told her that we had thirty minutes. I asked what she wanted to do in the meantime and watched as she untied her bikini top and bottom and let them fall to the floor.

“Lets take a shower.” She said heading into the bathroom.

I never could argue with a naked woman. We kissed most of the time in the shower only stopping to grab the soap. I washed her body as I had her pinned up against the tiled wall of the shower. A minute later I washed her off and she took the soap from me and pushed me against the wall.

“Your turn.” She said lathering up her hands and began running them over my shoulders and chest.

It was the dirtiest shower I had ever taken and it would have lasted longer but a knock at the door forced us out. I handed Clare a towel and wrapped another around my body and went for the door. A young woman in a Pizza Hut uniform was standing there with our dinner in her hand. She reddened when she saw me standing dripping wet wearing only a towel. Clare walked out of the bathroom holding the towel loosely to her chest leaving her back exposed. I signed for the pizzas and set them on the counter and grabbed the ten dollar bill that was sitting there and turned back to the woman. She was looking past me at Clare as she dropped the towel and began putting her bikini back on in full and deliberate view for the woman.

I handed the obviously turned on woman the tip and closed the door and walked over to Clare telling her she had found a new friend. She laughed and asked if I wanted her to call her back to the room. I couldn’t tell if she was kidding of not but I wasn’t about to share her with anyone. We lay on our bed (Note I said our bed) eating pizza and drinking soda as we watched a movie on the hotels on demand channel. Clare’s hair had dried without her using a blow dryer and I knew for sure that the waves I saw last were indeed natural. With her small glasses hanging on her nose she looked more like a secretary than a business woman. About half way through the movie Clare leaned her head against my shoulder and put her arms around my waist. I put an arm around her shoulder and ran my fingers through her hair as she tightened her arms around me. At first I simply thought she was giving me a hug so I hugged her back. But a second later I felt her whole body begin to tremble and shudder.

“Are you ok babe?” I asked looking down at her.

She shook her head and softly began to sob. I moved her head off my shoulder and laid her down on the pillow and looked in her watering eyes. I asked what was wrong and she looked away as the tears began to run down her cheeks. I gently turned her head back to me and wiped the tears from her eyes with the thumb and slid down onto the pillow next to her looking in her eyes. I had learned from past experience with women that when they start crying for no reason that you can see all you can do is hold them until they calm down enough to find out what they were crying about. I put my arms around her and pulled her in close and held her as she sobbed and she pulled me even closer to her. After a few minutes her sobbing subsided and she simply laid with her arms around me before looking in my eyes with red and puffy eyes. She couldn’t keep eye contact with me for more than a few seconds at a time before she buried her head against my chest again.

“I’m sorry.” She said looking in my eyes again.

“For what?”

“I just started thinking.”

“About what?”

“My boss called me yesterday. I have my final meeting with the CEOs of the company I am working at and if it all goes right I will be going back to France on Tuesday.”

My heart sank, I knew it was going to happen sooner or later but I still didn’t want it to end. I pulled her closer to me and held her as she started to sob again. I stroked her hair and back as she cried. We didn’t talk much for the next hour until she was fully composed and sat up again and straightened her hair. She took off her glasses and set them on the night stand and laid down with her back facing me like she was going to go to sleep. I laid next to her and put my arms around her and she pressed her arms against mine.

“I don’t know what to do.” She said. “I don’t want to go back but I have worked to hard to get to where I am today.”

“We both knew this would happen. But it doesn’t make it any easier does it?”

I held her for several more minutes thinking of what I could say to help her a little and just when I was about to say something that might have helped her I noticed that her breathing was deep and even. She had fallen asleep so I moved away from her and turned off the lights and put my arms back around her again. It was several hours later when I finally fell asleep with a half thought out plan in my mind.

Chapter 3

　

　

The rest of the weekend was filled with lots of kissing, crying and sex. Sometimes all at once. But it ended all too soon for both of us. Clare fell asleep on Sunday night with tears in her eyes and I did as well. I still had a half thought out plan in my mind but I still needed to work a few details out before I told her about it.

The next morning I awoke to Clare’s lips brushing up against mine. She was dressed in her business attire with her hair in a tight bun with a pin through the center holding it together. The sadness from the night before was nowhere to be seen in her eyes as she kissed me again. I reached up and pulled her closer to me and kissed her deeply and gave her a hug before she stood up and said that she had to get going to work or she was going to be late. I told her that I would be off work late that night but would come and get her when I got back to the hotel. She smiled and kissed me again and headed for the door looking back at me and blowing me a kiss.

Almost before the door to the room was closed I was out of bed and began packing all of my clothes in my oversized Army duffle bag and deciding what personal items I would want to take with me to France. I didn’t want to lose Clare and if it meant that I had to leave my country that I had served most of my adult life so be it. I loved her and would do anything for her. A few hours later I left my room and headed for work ready to quit on the spot so that I could go with Clare but I held off on quitting just in case she stayed a little longer than she thought she would.

When lunch rolled around I called a local flower shop and had them deliver a dozen long stem roses to Clare’s room with a note saying that I had a surprise for her when I got back to the hotel. The rest of the day went by a little slower than normal but finally I was in the truck a dusty wreck and on my way back to the hotel. Right before we arrived at the hotel I asked the driver if her would make a quick stop at the all night Liquor store down the street. I ran through the door and went right for the wine section and found the wine that Clare had had at the Olive Garden. I headed down the hallway with the wine in my hands and walked right past my room to Clare’s room and knocked. No answer. I knocked again and still nothing. I figured that somehow she managed to get into my room so I headed down the hall and into my room.

“Clare? Are you here?” I said clicking on the lights.

The room was empty. I changed my clothes and headed down the hall to the front desk and asked the clerk if she had seen her.

“Are you Katie?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Miss Beaufort checked out of the hotel at about six o’clock.” The woman said handing me a note. “She left this for you. She seamed rather upset.”

I opened the letter and began reading it as I started tearing up. She said that the meeting went real well and she had gotten the contract that she was after. It also said that as soon as she got back to the hotel she had gotten a call from her boss in France saying that there was a airline ticked waiting for her at the airport and that her flight was leaving in only a few hours. She told me that she loved me and that she wished we had more time together. There were tears rolling down my face as I folded the note up and put it in my pocket and looked at the clerk. She seemed to understand what had happened and turned around and picked up a large bouquet of roses and handed them to me.

“These came shortly after she left, I’m guessing you sent them.”

I nodded and took the card off of the vase and walked back to my room almost dragging the bottle of wine on the ground and leaving the flowers on the front desk. I felt like I had been kicked in the gut, I couldn’t think about anything other than the pain in my chest as my heart broke. I popped the cork on the wine and poured myself a glass and sighed, in all the time we were around each other I never asked where she worked or even the city she lived in. I took a sip of the wine and shuttered, it was horrible, however the bitter flavor reminded me of Clare’s lips so I continued to sip at it till half of the wine was gone. After a wile I really didn’t care what the wine tasted like as my head started to swim.

I sat on my bed and picked up my camera and started looking through the picture I had taken of us and started to cry when I got to the picture of our first kiss under that tree. Those few pictures were the only things I had to remind me of her and it hurt like hell. I had lost girls in my life that I had known longer that her but the pain I felt at their loss was nothing compared to the pain I now felt. She was the most wonderful woman I had ever met in my life and now she was gone and I had no way of finding her. I continued to drink the wine and look at the pictures until I had gotten myself good and drunk. Whoever recommended that you should drink to forget needed to be drug out into the streets and shot. With each sip of the wine I missed her more and more until I finally broke down and began to cry.

Three months later I was walking through the shipyard of the company I worked for back in San Diego heading to the Human Relations Office to get a plane ticket back to Altoona after a week of R&R. My bags were packed with everything I needed for the next ten weeks including the picture of Clare and me sitting under the tree in a heart shaped frame. I looked at the picture every day and would even catch my self saying good morning to it as I looked in her eyes. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words but it wasn’t worth a single note of her voice.

I headed into the HR office and said hello to the woman behind the desk. I was always amazed that she could remember my name even though I only saw her once every ten weeks or longer. She said hello and handed me my flight itinerary along with my pay stub for the pay week. I was about to leave the office when she called me back and handed me another envelope. Saying that it had arrived the other day. I thanked her and tucked it into my pocket. I headed back out to the parking lot to my old cherry red Camaro that I had bought just the day before and headed back home. I tossed my bag in the trunk and arranged for some of my friends to take me to the airport the next morning before flopping on my bed and turning on a movie.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the letter and opened it with my survival knife making sure to keep my fingers out of the way and pulled out the letter and began reading. My heart stopped on the first words.

Sweetheart,

I have written this letter to you more times than I can count but could never send it. I called the hotel right after I got back to France and asked if I could get the address to where you worked. The woman remembered me and gave me the address even though she knew she could loose her job. I know I should have just sent you this letter at the hotel but just couldn’t bring myself to write or call till now. I wanted to tell you something but still cant find the words to say what it is. I love you and miss you so much. I don’t even have a picture of you to remind me of you. It hurts me to know that I left the best girl in my life half way around the world. Please call me when you get this I would love to hear your voice again.

I love you.

Clare.

Her phone number was written on the bottom of the letter I smiled. As I put the note down tears started to drip on the paper and that’s when I noticed I could smell jasmine on the note. A hundred senses came flooding back to me including the feel of her arms around me. I wasted no time in picking up my phone and calling my work and telling my boss what was happening and that I was leaving for France right away. He thought I was kidding until I told him that I was quitting. He said it was a shame to loose me but he understood. I called my friends who knew about Clare and told them about the letter and now I had her home address and I was going to France right away. I booked a flight to France on my computer and headed out the door to my car and was on my way within minutes of reading the letter. I never even slowed down to think about what I was doing. Even if I did I still would have gone.

I landed In Rouen France twelve hours later just as the sun was beginning to go down over the land. A light rain was falling as I flagged down a cab and handed him the letter with the address. He nodded and started driving, my heart was beating a million beats a minute and getting faster as we rounded the corner of a residential street and stopped in front of an apartment complex. I paid the man and stood staring at the building trying to get my courage up. Finally I walked into the building and into the elevator and took it to her floor. I stood in front of her door for several minutes thinking what to say. Finally I raised my hand an knocked softly.

I heard her soft voice say something in French and my heart skipped a beat. This was the moment of truth and I was scared to death. I heard the lock open just before the door opened.

“Oui?” She said before leaning her head out the door.

“Hello sweetheart.” I said as her eyes met mine.

She shrieked and threw open the door and wrapped her arms around me almost knocking me to the ground. Our lips met as tears filled both of our eyes as we held each other. We stood in the hall way of the apartment complex for several minutes in each others arms with our lips together before separating. She pulled me into the apartment and closed the door behind us. I could smell some kind of pasta on the stove as I looked around the spacious living room. She came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed me tightly.

“I got your letter.” I said turning in her arms.

“I can see that.” She said crying a little.

I pulled away from her and reached into my duffle bag and pulled out the heart shaped picture frame with the picture of us sitting under the tree and handed it to her. I told her that now she had a picture of us as well as me. She asked how long I was able to stay as she put the frame on a table next to the couch. I smiled and told her that I was here as long as she wanted me to be here. She looked at me with a questioning look and I explained that I had quit my job back home to come and be with her. She asked if I meant to live with her and I told her only if she wanted me to. She smiled and nodded her head before heading into the kitchen to make sure the food she was making didn’t burn.

I walked up behind her and kissed her on the neck and put my arms around her waist and that’s when I felt a little budge on her stomach. I made a comment about how much the French must eat and she knew exactly what I was talking and turned around in my arms and looked me in the eyes.

“I’m not just getting fat.” She said kissing me lightly on the lips. “I’m pregnant.”

I froze as she looked in my eyes. I didn’t know what to say I thought she was gay not bi.

“It’s a little girl,” She said laying her head on my chest and hugging me tightly. “Your little girl.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“When I got home I got inseminated. I wanted to have something, anything to remind me of you. And I thought that having a baby was a good idea because I am so in love with you. I know you could never get me pregnant so I found a place that did it for us.”

I was at a loss for words. I came here to be with the woman I love now I find out we are going to have a family. I got down on my knees and lifted her shirt and kissed the bump softly.

“Hello little one. I am going to be your other mama.” I said before standing back up. “I love you Clare.”

“I love you too Katie.”