Going to dinner, téte a téte, at an older woman's house, was among the many things Horatio Caine thought he might want do, but later in life. And this was his second visit! Of course, the first visit had been more like a courtesy call, partly to see how Becca was doing and partly to respond to her invitation to see her vintage sports car. The first proposal had come, he was sure, only because he had been so nice to her under rather extraordinary circumstances.
Normally, in the rare moments when he had time off, Horatio liked to go for drives down to the keys, but this time he had decided to take his refurbished nineteen sixty-two TR4 on one of the less traveled inland routes so he could really wind out the little red car. Fortunately, he was shifting down, enjoying the barking protest of the pipes or he would have ended up in the hole in the road as Becca had. He did ruin the tires by spinning out, and just about blew the brakes too, ending up sideways in the middle of the road about twenty feet from the edge of the sink hole.
He had no idea how long he sat waiting for his heart to slow down, but the road was rarely traveled, being a connector to larger highways for the few residents that lived in the vast forested Florida inland, so there was no hurry. As his pulse slowed and his good sense began to regain some control, he decided to move the car to the side of the road.
Humans are curious animals by nature, so, with more than his share, Horatio had to go see this hole that stretched at least fifty feet across and almost from one side of the road to the other. Approaching and, taking note of the fresh black skid marks from about fifteen feet to the edge, getting as close as he dared to the edge of crumbling asphalt, he peered over the brink and, sure enough, perched on its nose, on an incline about twenty feet down, sat a little silver 2000 Mercedes Benz SL600. The top was up so he could not see if anyone was inside.
He shouted at the car and unxpectedlygot a strong feminine response. After verifying she was uninjured but scared and ready to get out now, he called the Florida State Highway Patrol for assistance
Horatio spent about forty minutes, seated near the sink hole, getting to know his latest rescue; Her name was Becca Stanton; she recognized the sound of the make of his car because her dead husband, gone six years now, used to collect a variety of sports cars, most of which she had 'unloaded' on anyone she could find thoughshe still had an old MG that had a something called a twin cam, which Horatio, thankfully, didn't have to ask about because that was when the cavalry arrived. The Florida State Highway Patrol, a tow truck and a fire-rescue team, came up from the opposite side from Horatio's original direction with sirens and lights ablaze, making a fine site.
Half an hour later, as she was being hauled out, Horatio was much amazed to find Becca to be trim, pretty, gray haired and somewhere in her mid sixties; her voice and speech patterns having given him the impression of a much younger woman. After being checked out by the paramedics, he chatted briefly with her and this was when Horatio fell entirely under her spell. The tropical sun was cold and dim in comparison to her smile and she had a charm that would probably lure coldest fish in the ocean to come eat out of her hand. Moreover, he could tell she knew exactly how wonderful she was, how fascinating and, he had no doubt, she was not even at her top form considering what she had just been through.
"Would you do me just the least little favor?" Her blue eyes sparkled like jewels and, since nothing could be denied this woman, a date for the following Sunday was set.
Home for herwasa modest mansion in the old Tropicana Estates just north of Miami. As widow to a lumber magnate from a family of financial wizards, monied elegance was part of her every day background. She was also one of those rare, naturally stunning women who loved to use her inborn charms to please, as well as to get what she wanted. Rather than expecting to be loved because she was beautiful, she knew how to act beautifully, how much allure to mix in and when, and didn't seem to take for granted anything she received in return, whether love, just company or favors.
Originally, his plans, were to see she was okay, look at the oldcar, make polite comments about it and leave, but that is not what happened.First, was an hour's drive in the 1958 MG A 1500 with the high compression DOHC aluminum cylinder head version of the B-series engine, all of which meant nothing to him. All he knew was, driving it was great and it rode so low it was like he was wearing the highway dividing line around his shoulders. Then he was asked for an opinion of some fine old whiskey her father had given her and, finally, they had a very long conversation about one another and about this and that and so on. That day Horatio found he could be attracted to an older woman. He hadn't been so smitten or instantly bowled over by a woman since he was a teenager and knew it was an absolutely calculated move on her part, but he didn't care how the attraction worked any more than he cared about how sports cars worked. If she wanted him, she could have him.
Well, she could have him as soon as he ran a quick check on her, her husband, and both families. Trust, then verify was as much a part of his personal life as professional. Money was never squeaky clean but aside from the usual allegations about shady deals, land ripoffs, and wall street insider information, the check revealed nothing to indicate Becca was anything but idly rich, involved in the usual charities, and nice as she seemed.
Horatio waited patiently at the gated entry while the camera checked his appearance against approved faces in the photo recognition program. After the automated security allowed the gate to open he drove through, up the short drive to the porticoed entry where he saw Becca standing, waiting to receive him. To his query she answered thathe could leave the car parked as it was, since she was not expecting anyone else and that the covering would protect his car from any sudden showers.
Dinner was served in a gazebo screened with mesh so fine it did not obstruct the view of the well tended garden nor the approach of the maid as she came and went with food or drink. Whenever they were alone, much to Horatio's enjoyment, Becca leaned suggestively towards him, touching his arm or his hand to make a point, yet, as soon as the maid appeared, leaned back but with a look that promised intimacy to come. Never coquettish, as if she sensed that would put him off, her behavior still left no doubt where she intended for the relationship to head, eventually.
This time, she enticed him into staying longer than he had intended with a drinkof hundred year old Scotch and a plea to explain how the various blood detectors worked and how a CSI would know which one to use. She claimed the question came from his conversations with her but he suspected she had also done some serious homework. Again, he just plain didn't care; sitting in a den, on the softest, most luxurious leather couch he ever had pleasure to sink into, beside this gorgeous woman who was staring into his eyes, fascinated by every word he spoke, sipping a scotch that had every corner of his mouth singing praises in a glorious concert to the creation of the elixir, made him feel too damned good!
They went on several more dates, dinner out, the theater, a Miami Heat game, and had loads of fun, but it wasn't until after dinner at his condo that he first kissed her. They were out on his balcony, he was pointing at some hotel down the beach and she was looking up at him, seemingly listening with every fiber of her being, looking wonderful and he thought he just couldn't help himself. In fact, he wasn't really sure who had first initiated the kiss, but then,anything and everything was so very easy around her, he gave up even thinking about it. Three more dates, more kissing, and another dinner at her home, brought him to her bed.
And here, he found, any control which she may have wielded over the relationship out there absolutely ended; he felt it as certainly as he felt her bare back with his hand. Life, out there, was hers to play with and enjoy but now, their sexual life would be all him and whatever he made of it. He had no doubt she knew, before hand, that he always pleasured the woman entirely first and then merely rode her happiness wave to his own joy, knew his experience included knowledge of wonderful and mysterious ways to ensure such gratification, but he was also pretty sure that even if he was as self serving and uncouth as a bear, she would still have left the whole thing to him.
Not that she just sat back and took, oh no, not by far. She too had experiences she was delighted to share, diversions he had never considered, knowledge gained from her studies of hedonistic practices of the world throughout history. She laughed, she joked, she played, she was ethereally enthralling in every sense of the words. At the same time, never seeming to anticipate, she always accepted his every caress as a superb act performed just for her, sighing, closing her eyes in ecstacy, returning the touches in kind.
Still, after that conquest, she never became possessive in any sense of the word. His job involved a great deal of overtime and she continued the life she'd had before they met. They came together when they could and they kept in contact between dates but in no way was it overwhelming for either.
When they were together, however, when he could escape into her world, which was always the case, their mutual happiness seemed to know no bounds. He did not see her as older but as a divinely lovely, sophisticated, intellectual woman he hated to part from and she did not treat him as any less than what he was, intelligent, charming, cultured and most worthy of all she had to offer.
