by Knox, Abby
She had answered the door in an extra-long baseball shirt with two pink zeros emblazoned across a pair of nice round breasts. Her cropped gray leggings hugged a pair of curvy thighs and revealed deeply tanned calves and feet that were calloused from summers spent barefoot outdoors. Her hair was mussed from sleep; it was somewhere between blonde and golden brown, streaked from sun exposure. Her fine-boned, heart-shaped face was as deeply tanned as her legs, and it made her soft blue eyes pop.
Matthew knew himself all too well. He had taken a sabbatical to hide. To get away from drama. To keep to himself.
He should call the whole thing off and just find lodging at one of the other resorts, maybe one of them run by a pair of kindly retirees.
But he had promised this woman he would make good on his reservation. And…he didn’t really want to stop staring at her.
He followed Gretchen into her small kitchen. Gretchen was a name that reminded him of fairy tales, and her quaint little cabin that doubled as an office fit the bill for a fairy-tale residence. An A-frame structure, it was full of nooks and crannies and outdated fixtures.
When she walked away from him and padded around the kitchen sleepily, he watched her hips and ass jiggle in those tight leggings, watched her breasts bounce slightly in that top. He pictured her crawling into bed next to him on all fours, every luscious curve exposed.
Matthew had to put these unwholesome thoughts out of his head and focus on just making it through coffee with an ungodly erection so he could obtain his keys and get to unpacking.
When they sat down together for coffee, she handed him a mug that said, “Smitten by the Mitten,” with the shape of the state of Michigan drawn to look like a fluffy winter mitten.
He politely sipped his coffee, but soon was gulping it in earnest.
It was the best coffee he ever tasted.
She finally spoke after finishing half of her cup.
“So. What time is the rest of your family arriving?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding. It’s just me.”
She sat erect, suddenly seeming wide awake. “But you said you needed two cabins.”
He puffed up his chest. “I do need two cabins. I’m on sabbatical from the university. I need one cabin to sleep in and to live in, and one cabin to write in.”
Gretchen cocked her head to the side. “I thought this was a family reunion.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you. No. It’s just me.”
“Oh,” she said. “No, not disappointed. I’m glad it’s just you. Well, I don’t mean I’m glad you’re alone. But I’m glad that it appears I’ll have less to do.”
Matthew could see her chest flushing as she caught herself revealing her pleasure at him being alone with her. He had to spare her further embarrassment and get on with business.
“Now if I could get my keys, I’ll be out of your hair.”
But she didn’t move, she was looking at him like he was insane.
“So you’re telling me, you plonked down ten Gs, for one month, and you are taking up two whole cabins?”
“I’ve spent quite enough time living where I work. I just can’t do it anymore.”
Gretchen stared at him. Matthew was feeling very self-conscious with the way she stared, but then again, it gave him a chance to stare back at her.
He studied her graceful, seductive neck…a neck that, if he had to guess, was still warm from her bed. A neck that he’d like to nuzzle all the way up to her earlobe and across to her nape, discovering which spots would make her moan.
He admonished himself. This is totally inappropriate.
Then something unexpected happened. She started to laugh.
First it was a devilish smile, then an incredulous laugh, then a guffaw, and in the next few seconds, she was tossing her head back and howling. Before long she was dabbing tears from her eyes.
Matthew hated to ask, but he did. “What’s so funny?”
She replied, “Dr. Matthew Brendan, everybody within a fifty-mile radius of here lives exactly where they work.”