A Passionate Understanding: Vignettes Through the Years

Author's Note: I got a lot less carried away on the length with this one, but a little more carried away on the spiciness. This vignette is humorous in tone. Like I said earlier, these are all completely random. Sorry 'bout that.

Oh, and thank you all for the lovely reviews. I will PM you ASAP but I left my laptop charger cord at work today (gadzooks!) so will have limited connectivity, i.e. a dead batt'ry very soon. I hope you'll enjoy this fishing trip, too. Sincerely, lj

"Fishing with Doc & Chester"

by Lilyjack

He woke her with a tender yet insistent kiss upon her sleep-flushed cheek, hastily unbuckling his gun belt, shucking his vest, peeling off his shirt, and chucking them all carelessly on her bare wooden bedroom floor, modestly decorated with only a small, inexpensive throw rug that had been carefully placed beside the bed. Kitty's face was half-buried in the feather pillow. She'd been sleeping blissfully until now in the half-light of dawn when she was forced to open one eye to squint languidly at Dodge City's young marshal. He was hopping on one foot by her bedside, struggling to tug loose a brown leather boot from his oversized foot.

"Kitty?" He nimbly switched to hop on the other foot and successfully removed the second boot, sending it clattering to the floor to join its mate. "Don't close your eyes on me now. You awake?"

"Mmm…?" was her drowsy response.

He tenderly but quickly brushed the hair off her forehead, kissing her again as he began unbuttoning his pants. "You gonna wake up for me?"

A sleep-croaky voice, muffled by the pillow, drawled, "I thought you were goin' fishin' with Doc an' Chester."

"I was… I am." He struggled to remove his pants, finally kicking them free of his legs and sending them sailing. They landed in a rumpled heap with the rest of his clothing. "I told Doc and Chester that I'd catch up with 'em."

"Catch up with 'em?" She stretched like a lazy cat and rubbed her eyes, wistfully abandoning any ideas she might've harbored regarding additional sleep. It seemed she and Matt got little rest nowadays when he was in town, she ruminated wryly. That's what happened when you graduated from being close friends to, well, a lot more than just close friends. She gazed at him affectionately, admiring how his broad, muscular shoulders strained against the well-worn fabric of his long underwear. The sweet, anxious look in his eyes tugged at her heart. "You mean you already met up with 'em this morning? And then left?" she inquired, a mite perplexed.

"Yeah…I, uh… I told 'em I'd catch up with them because I needed to go back for something."

"Go back?" She rolled on her side, resting a pink cheek on an elbow as the first pale light of dawn touched her sleep-tossed hair, making it shimmer like low-burning embers in a campfire.

"Yeah…" He planted a hand on his lean hip, scratched the side of his neck with the other. "I, uh, told 'em I forgot something."

She looked pointedly down at his union suit, impressively tented below his waistline. Her peach-soft lips twitched and she stated in her best poker-playing voice, "I see you brought along your fishin' pole with ya…" But her expressive eyes twinkled mischievously, an amber brow arching toward her hairline. "So that obviously couldn't have been what you forg-"

Her sassy statement dissolved into raucous laughter as Kitty's huge beau fiercely growled and crawled atop her.

He gruffly declared, "I believe I've already caught me a purty little catfish right here." His blue eyes twinkled down on her as a wide, infectious grin overtook his handsome face, completely belying his mock serious tone.

She raked her fingers through the soft, floppy curls on his forehead, then intertwined her hands behind his neck. Smiling radiantly back at him, she sought to clarify, "Oh, I've been caught, have I?"

"You're not goin' anywhere fast, are you? Kiss me, honey, we don't have a lotta time. Chester and Doc will get suspicious."

"A girl would be crazy to leave you, Matt Dillon. Mmm…your lips are so soft for such a big, tough lawman, you know that? Besides, Chester won't be suspicious. He might be confused. Doc will be the suspicious one."

"You really think a girl would be crazy to leave me? I don't know…I was kinda thinking the opposite… Move over thisaway a little. You fit perfect right here. Like you were made to go there, huh?"

"Of course a girl would be crazy. I know a good thing when I see it. You think we were made to be together? I like that idea, Cowboy."

"Mmm, you smell so good, Kitty. You smell a whole lot better than Doc and Chester."

"Gee thanks, Marshal. Maybe you can engrave that on my tombstone. You didn't shave this morning. Be careful…you'll give me razor burn. Doc's suspicions will be confirmed."

"I'm sorry, honey. Tell me if I'm too rough. So I'm a good thing? Really?"

"Ohh, yes. Ohh…do that again… I mean, yes, you are a very good thing, Matthew Dillon."

"Do this? Right here?"

"Yess… Right there… Keep on doing that… Now kiss me again."

"Don't unbutton me there. I don't have time to get all the way outta this thing, honey. Chester and Doc will be halfway to the fishin' hole by now."

"Well, you're the one who started this."

"I know, but I just can't get enough of you. I had to come back for just a few minutes. Besides, with Chester gone, I knew we wouldn't be interrupted. Just this once."

"Well, you got me there. Maybe you should send Chester and Doc on fishin' trips more often."

"Now that's an idea. Oh…sweetheart…that's the spot, right there…"

"Matt, how do you do it? A little to the left…oh my…"

"Do what…honey? By golly, I'm so glad I turned around…and came back."

"Fist fights… Barroom brawls… And… Oh, Matt… Fishin' trips… Oh…Matt…"

"What, Kitty? Fist fights? What's that got to do with…? Hold tight, sweetheart…"

"I'm holdin', Cowboy. Through them all, you manage to never…lose…that…damn hat…"

Matt gave a quick glance upward toward the brim of his gray Stetson pushed way back on his forehead, realizing for the first time that he still was wearing it. He grinned and then gazed in satisfaction at the sultry expression on his girl's face. "I thought…you liked…my hat, Kitty. Now say 'Oh Matt' for me one…more…time…."

end

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