The Cabin

by Alice Ward

  I reached for her hand and pressed it between both of mine. Shit. They teach trigonometry in school but nothing about having difficult conversations.

  “Caitlyn… in these last few weeks, I’ve been happier than I’ve ever been. I’m honestly not sure what love is, but I think I might be there. I hope I am. I want to be. And I want us to be exclusive to each other so we can figure it all out.” I licked my suddenly dry lips. “If you’ll have me.”

  “You mean romantically?”

  Was she trying to make me crazy?

  “Yes, romantically.”

  Her eyes searched my face, as if she could read the truths or lies living there. She took a deep breath. “Yes.”

  I exhaled a lungful of air. “Really?”

  She laughed. “How many guys do you see lining up at my door?”

  What a stupid question. They weren’t at her door because she was a tongue-lashing hard-ass to any man who showed the slightest bit of interest in her sexually. Her best male friends were a gay man and his husband, which I was completely grateful for, of course. She had no clue, not even the slightest, how gorgeous, alluring, and intimidating she was.

  “They aren’t here because they’re afraid you’ll chop off their man bits and feed them to your snakes,” I said as straight-faced as I could manage.

  “I don’t have snakes,” she chided.

  “Sometimes I wonder.” I was getting offtrack. “So, that’s it! What do you kids call it these days? Going steady? Boyfriend/girlfriend?”

  She laughed, the light shining in her eyes again. “You can be my boyfriend and I’ll be your girlfriend. Sound good?”

  I kissed her fingers. “I’ve never had that before, so yeah, it sounds great. What sounds even greater is that I get you on the weekends.”

  She squeezed my hand. “Okay, we’re exclusively dating, which is the term one would use if you aren’t thirteen years old. But you don’t “get” me every weekend. We can spend time together, but you’ll have to share me with the rest of my life. And it wouldn’t be a good time to let Mr. Control Freak out of his bag. We’re not marching in a ‘Me Tarzan You Jane’ parade. Rules of human decency and respect still apply.”

  Damn, she was tough.

  Fine. I could negotiate. “I see we’re setting parameters and you’re grasping for boundaries.”

  “Which are normal and right.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Given that we’re sharing and making compromises with each other for the greater good of our new relationship.”

  So sexy, strong-willed, and smart.

  “Alright, here are my parameters. I work in the office until late, usually until nine-thirty or ten. After that, I order food in and work more from home. If you weren’t you, the woman I’m falling in love with and trying to be a good person for, I would call you over, fuck you hard, slap your ass, and send you out the door by midnight. I get into the office early the next morning and repeat.”

  Her mouth had fallen into a cute little ‘o’ I’d like to fuck, but I pulled my mind out of the gutter and continued.

  “I’d like to be able to spend a weeknight or two with you, go out to dinner, have a sleepover. I need to see Wenton on the weekends, but Saturday night should be our play night, at least.”

  She snapped her mouth closed. “It all sounds doable. I’ll have to look at my school schedule, but we can arrange two nights together at your place during the week. I’ll still drive back home on the weekends, but I’ll go with you to see Wenton, and I can play here on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, I’ll do me things.”

  Why would she want to do “me things?” So infuriating. At least she agreed to most of my conditions, which was a good start.

  My cock twitched, and I realized that word sparring with her was very arousing. This next level of love and domesticity was such a strange new paradigm for me.

  She chewed her bottom lip. “I just have to add a few more things.”

  I was immediately suspicious. “What?”

  “I want to make friends at school, and I want a private life, so you can’t be jealous. I promise to be real with you, so you don’t have to worry, but I’m used to flying completely solo. Adding a copilot is something I’m getting used to as well.”

  I stared at her a long moment. Her request wasn’t unfair, after all.

  “I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with you having a private life. I’d much rather chain you up in my basement, so no one else knows you’re alive.” I blew out a breath. “Since we’re making concessions, I’ll try. I too have a few last little items.” I lifted a brow.

  She nodded. “Go on.”

  “First, you commuting to New York in that car? Oh hell no. I want you to set your car on fire. I hate it, it’s a moving can of death. I’ll get you a reliable vehicle. I’m not going to have you commuting by yourself in that murder mobile. Second, do you mind starting birth control? I want skin to skin with you.”

  She blinked and lifted her chin. “To your added items, here is my response. No to the car, I’m a millionaire and—”

  I smirked. “Almost a millionaire.”

  “Whatever. I will buy a car when the Beater Kia dies. Second, I’ve already made an appointment with the doctor to start the pill, so we’ll be able to throw caution to the wind. I’m looking forward to it.” She gave me a sexy smile that almost had me tackling her across the table.

  “I guess that’s it then. What do you think we should do now? I don’t have a varsity ring to give you to wear around your neck, but I might have some swag from the Oscars last year.”

  Wow, I was really doing this monogamy thing.

  She reached for my hand again. “I don’t need anything, just you. I’m going to miss you this week.”

  Ah, there was reality again. The time was drawing near when I would go back to my real world, and she’d face hers without me there to hold her and make her feel safe from the sadness that was ever present. I stood and pulled her out of her chair and into my arms. My cock was pressing against my jeans, begging to be free. It would be almost a week before I could see her again, so I didn’t shy away, embarrassed by my needs. Caitlyn and I had made love a dozen times, this was no different. I pulled her head to mine, and we kissed with a passion that was transforming our souls.

  She wiggled against me, the minx, and I grew harder.

  “You know you can’t leave me this way,” I teased.

  She gave me a sly look and sank down to her knees. She unzipped my pants and removed my cock, teasing me with a long, slow lick of her tongue. I was thrilled by her warm mouth and all the incredible sensations she ignited in me. She wasn’t an expert lover, but an intuitive one. She could sense my feelings from my reactions and was able to send me through the roof.

  She wrapped her hand around me and sucked, pumping me until I was about to come. With only a few precious minutes to spare, I lifted her up until her mouth was on mine. I slid my hand down her beautiful body to meet with her wet center. She was ready, and I moved her panties aside and took the plunge as we stood in her kitchen, pressed against the table.

  I was so excited and time pressured, I forgot the condom. Damn, it felt good, but I quickly pulled out and rolled a new one on. She screamed as she orgasmed and I clung to her, following only moments later.

  God, I was crazy about this woman. And from the look in her eyes, she was crazy about me.

  When we were done, there was a knock at the door. Robert had arrived. We quickly straightened ourselves out and tried not to look like two people who’d just fucked in the kitchen. She and I had never done that, just went crazy on each other for a quickie. Our lovemaking had been sensual, slow, in the bedroom with lots of showers and sweet smelling lotions and oils. Never down and dirty on the kitchen table. It felt incredible to be fucking the woman you care for.

  “Thanks, that was fun,” I said into her ear. “I won’t be able to enjoy anything this week, you can be sure.”

  “Me either.” Her eyes cast downward, the
sadness creeping in.

  I kissed her cheeks, her forehead, her nose, and finally her mouth. “I’ll call you when I get to New York. You start looking at cars you like, and I’ll do research on my end,” I said as I grabbed my bags and headed for the door.

  She planted her fists on her hips. “You’re not buying me a car. I’m not budging on that.”

  “We’ll see.” What she didn’t remember was that I did this for a living. I simple pestered people until they gave in to shut me up.

  Holding Caitlyn’s hand, I headed to the car, Robert running ahead to open the door. “Good morning, Mr. Preston. Sorry to bother you, but we need to hurry and get you back to New York ASAP. If we go now, I can rush through traffic.”

  “What’s going on?” God, I wasn’t ready to face work just yet.

  “Apparently the office has been trying to reach you. They want you to attend a ten o’clock meeting. I’ll conference you in from the car if we don’t make it by then, but they want you in person as soon as you can get there, so that’ll be our first stop.”

  I had turned off my phone last night for just this reason. “What movie?”

  I’d worked from Caitlyn’s kitchen every day while she went to art class. I thought all the fires were out, so I didn’t understand the reason for any crisis. Maybe my staff just needed a little practice in holding down the fort.

  “It’s the final casting for ‘Gamoroa Man.’”

  “Shit. Okay, let’s hustle.” I turned to Caitlyn. “Sorry for the shitty goodbye. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

  I gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, and that was it. As we drove off, I hoped she would be okay and that she could manage without me. No, I realized. What really worried me was if I could manage without her.

  CHAPTER 13

  Caitlyn

  It was hard to see him go.

  As I walked back into the empty house, a rush of sadness threatened to overwhelm me. It smelled like him, and there were lingering scents and memories of him all over the house. Gran was there too. I hadn’t been in her room since she died, but knew the hospice team had removed all of her medical stuff. But she was still there. Her scent was in there as well. My nose was experiencing all these smells that were sending my emotions all over the place. Missing Gran here, wanting KP there. I decided the best thing to do was to look to the future and make a grand attempt at avoiding everything.

  A party.

  Yes. A get-together with friends was exactly the balm I needed right now.

  I’d already quit the restaurant, and would soon resign from the art center too. That added to my feelings of sadness, but I wanted to focus my attention on my school work. Since I’d been wanting this for so long, I planned to dedicate all my effort to becoming a better artist. I wasn’t exactly sure how my art would ever influence humanity, but I was sure I’d figure it all out.

  I decided to go to the center and give them my resignation in person. I wanted to be with the kids and enjoy spending time with them before starting school the following month. As hard as it was, it was the best way to get my mind off stuff and move forward with my life.

  An hour later, I told the director about my acceptance to Parson’s. He was thrilled for me, but also sad. As we planned for an end date for my last classes, I told him about an idea that had been brewing in my mind.

  I wanted to use the kids’ art to help inspire public awareness for some of the issues they faced. Having a voice and educating the world to reality was something these kids needed. My idea was to create an animated series based on characters the kids and I created, but I wanted the main character to have some kind of mental illness. MI kids had it worse than most. I would draw the main characters for the story but would invite guest artists to draw guest characters who would only be in the series for an episode or two.

  When I mentioned the idea to my students, they loved the concept and were eager to give their input. We decided that depression was the mental illness our lead character should have because most teens and many adults struggled with bouts of it. It was a good window to work through as I too struggled to fight off the clinging arms of depression. Since most of my students were girls, we went with Mathilda and drew her as a gorgeous woman of color. She had to be hot, the kids said, so that people would listen to her. That made me sad. People should listen to women who weren’t hot, but we had to start somewhere. We couldn’t tackle the whole world at one time.

  I loved what we came up with, and I worked on it day and night. It kept my mind off losing Gran and missing KP. Although I had to admit, it wasn’t that hard to miss KP. While his physical body wasn’t beside me at all times, he sure was. He called me almost every hour on the first day and nearly every two hours on the second. I finally had to put my foot down and suggest twice a day was plenty of time to talk to one another.

  There was no way I would have believed that KP, the creep from the restaurant, would end up being a man who called me every minute, trying to tell me he loved me in the cutest, dumbest ways.

  Did you eat this morning? Um, yep, I’m not on any weird fasting diet.

  Did you tell Parsons you want a single dorm room? Nope, just gonna take what they give me. That burned him up hard, so I got that question every day. The answer was still no. It wasn’t like I was going to let him on campus anyway.

  I could see it now… Oh, hey, Caity. Your famous billionaire producer boyfriend is here in the hallway. Do you want us to buzz him in?

  Nope, didn’t need that in my life. I’d be just your average, everyday art student without a famous boyfriend, thank you very much.

  “But you do have a famous boyfriend,” was always his gripe. Whatever. I wasn’t ready to deal with it.

  Honestly, the whole concept scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t believe that we’d even come this far. He was the guy I swore I’d never sleep with, and here we were mapping out our lives together. Besides, he could have been in New York screwing every woman he knew. I didn’t really have a way to tell, except for all the phone calls — it would be hard to squeeze a liaison in between those. So I decided to do as Gran had instructed and follow my heart.

  I looked at the unopened letter that Gran had given Athena. It sat on the mantel just living its little unopened life. I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t face her death. It was better for me to think she was on vacation than gone, so I left it there unread, waiting for a day when I could finally swallow the truth.

  Planning the party was fun. Tammy and I did the menu, and Ricky was in charge of the theme and decorations. We decided to go with a graffiti theme and slam poetry, so we painted paper cups and plates and wrote slam verses on them. I wanted the verses to be inspirational but cutting-edge.

  It was so much fun getting ready for the party, which was totally my thing. It would also give me a chance to connect with friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. I’d invited coworkers from the art center and friends from my artist collective and the gallery. I wanted this to be a blowout so I invited everyone. The last person I invited was KP.

  “Hey, are you busy?”

  “I’m never too busy for you, love, what’s up?” He sounded busy, so I wanted to make this fast.

  “I’m having a ‘yay, I got into art school’ party at the house this Saturday after we get back from seeing Wenton. I know it’s last minute, and Saturday is our night, but with school starting for everyone in the next few weeks, this was the best weekend for it. So, two things… will you come and are you mad?” I just threw it out there and waited for whatever he was going to throw back at me.

  I’d had to try and help him get a handle on “let’s do everything my way” tendencies because they got on my nerves at times.

  “But this is our first weekend…we haven’t even really had a weekend.” I heard him take a deep breath. “I mean… fine.”

  I could tell he was really struggling with it, but he’d surprised me by agreeing. That was why I was falling in love with him. I kept expecting him to be awful and he
wasn’t. He was wonderful.

  “Wow, you agreed so quickly. Did I call the right number?” Teasing always worked for us.

  “Trust me, agreement wasn’t my first reaction, but sure, if you want to celebrate, I would love to be there with you.”

  He sounded sincere. Who was this guy?

  “So, how do we handle the whole ‘I’m famous…blah diddy blah?’”

  I wasn’t sure what to do. Just have him walk in? Send an email asking my friends to pretend they don’t notice him? Say nothing and watch him get attacked? Tough choices.

  “Blah diddy blah?” he was laughing; that was a good sign.

  “Well, do you want me to tell people, or…um put you in a gorilla suit?”

  “Do you trust your friends?”

  I’d been going for a laugh, but he was serious again.

  “Mostly.” That was true. Some of the people I invited weren’t always the most trustworthy people; they’d blab it all on social media for sure. “Some of them might gossip though. Artists are, well… you know, dramatic, bitchy queens at times.”

  “Okay, so maybe send out an email introducing me and give them a heads up that I’m there for you, not to find a new actor, writer, or filmmaker. That will hopefully discourage people from approaching me for work stuff. Say it’s a private thing for the two of us. That might deter the Twitter feeds from blowing up.” I hated that he had to deal with this all the time.

  “That must be so annoying,” I commiserated.

  “It’s my job. A party sounds like fun though. I’ll wear a baseball cap and try to blend in.”

  “A floppy beanie and a hoodie would be better, but you couldn’t pull it off, so a baseball cap will work. I’ve seen you wear one of those, you don’t look too weird in it.”

  He was so handsome, but he looked ridiculous in things that weren’t tailored to perfection.

  “Thanks… I think. Okay, gotta go. I’m late for a meeting.”