TITLE: The Dream Weavers
CHAPTER 6

Kirsten drew in a breath at the sight of Ryan in the master bedroom. She was suddenly very aware she was wearing nothing but a towel... especially when she caught his gaze inching over her from head to toe... and she shifted her weight nervously, toying with the still-dripping ends of her hair and averting her eyes.

"Um..." Ryan seemed to startle back to coherence and shook his head as if snapping from a trance. "I'm... sorry, I uh... I didn't know you'd be--"

"No, that's okay, Ryan," she exhaled with a nervous smile, shifting her weight again. She pressed her hand to the knot in the towel, making sure it was still secure. "What's up?" She fought not to let her gaze drift below his waistline as she asked that.

"I just uh... I thought maybe we should... talk?"

Kirsten fingered her long, wet tresses, averting her gaze once more. Her cheeks felt warm again. "Talk? Sure, w-we could talk. About what?"

"Um..." Again, words failed him as he scratched nervously behind his ear, trying to avert his eyes from all the flesh begging for his attention. "I don't... I don't remember."

"Okay..." Kirsten came toward him, watched the panic light his eyes, and she moved past him to the glass doors, keeping their gazes locked the entire time. She shut the glass door, pressed on it firmly as if that would seal them in a soundproof chamber. "How about I start."

"Okay."

Kirsten cleared her throat, took a deep breath. However this conversation turned out, it would change everything. Was she prepared for another shift in the foundation of her life? The last one was four years ago when this complex young man blew into her world. When they met eyes for the first time and she was overcome with a bolt of sexual attraction. Was she ready to be shaken up again? She raked her gaze over Ryan again and decided that something had to give.

"Ryan, I know things have been kind of... tense... between us lately--"

"Lately?" he balked, and Kirsten was surprised he was so readily joining in.

She smiled and amended, "Things have been more tense between us, then. Especially since your last birthday."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah."

"And... I don't mean to create even more tension, but..." She took a few steps toward him. "I have to tell you something."

Ryan nodded once again and stepped toward her in turn. "Yeah, I have something I need to tell you, too."

They met each other's eyes, as they'd done hundreds of times before, and just stood there staring at each other, searching each other... waiting for someone to take the plunge. Then, finally, it came out in unison. "I had a dream about you."

Then, again, in unison... "What?"

Ryan shook his head and held up a hand, as if to halt any more simultaneous exclamations. "Wait... you had a dream about me?"

Kirsten nodded. "And... you had a dream about me?"

Ryan nodded back. "Yeah."

She searched his eyes again before asking tentatively... almost timidly... "What was the dream about?"

"Kirsten..." Ryan tilted his head and held her gaze, trying to get his point across without words.

Predictably, Kirsten was right there with him, and her brows twitched upward briefly in understanding. "Oh."

"And... your dream?" he prompted.

Still staring into his eyes, Kirsten opened her mouth to respond. Then, upon seeing in his eyes that no words were necessary, she closed her mouth and bit down softly on her lower lip, shyly averting her gaze.

Ryan stared at her, dumbfounded. "Huh."

She nodded and clutched her towel nervously. "Yeah."

"So--"

"We can't act on it, Ryan," Kirsten blurted.

"Right. Yeah." He cast his gaze to a spot on the floor. "You're married."

"Yes."

"And... and we live together."

"Right."

They were holding each other's gaze now, a million things left unsaid now thrust into the silence between them, into the space between their bodies. Both of them shifted their weight from one foot to the other, each trying to hold back from what they really wanted to do. "Look," Kirsten sighed, "There's obviously something here. Some sort of connection, chemistry, attraction... whatever it may be."

"Do we even know?" Ryan raised an eyebrow.

Kirsten shook her head and nervously toyed with her damp hair again. "No."

Boldly, he took a step forward, not missing the sharp intake of breath he got from Kirsten in response. "Aren't you just a little bit curious?"

Kirsten was fighting a losing battle, trying in vain to get her heart to stop racing, trying and failing to keep her breathing even. She swallowed, the action becoming more of a gulp when Ryan took one more step forward. "Sure I'm curious."

"Then--"

"No." She took a step backward, a step away from his body heat, a step back toward clear thinking. "We can't, Ryan, you know that. We need to just... leave this alone."

"So we need to just ignore that we're feeling this way? Pretend that there's nothing here?" A vertical crease appeared between his eyebrows now and he looked almost angry with her. "That sucks, Kirsten."

"I'm sorry. We just... we have to acknowledge that we both feel this way and then... try to move past it."

Ryan shook his head, folding his arms across his chest. "I don't think I can."

"Well you have to. We both do." She averted her eyes to the floor again, placed a hand on her towel, and told him in a low voice, "I need you to leave now."

He lifted his eyes to hers...

"I have to get dressed," she clarified, making sure to keep her tone soft in the hopes of easing some of his ire.

It worked. He seemed to deflate, disappointment clouding his sleepy blue eyes... and for a moment Kirsten wanted to take back the last two minutes. She wanted to drop her towel to the floor, hold out her arms and tell him he could have his way with her. She wanted to feel his body against hers, pinning her down, skin sliding against her own.

But instead, she just watched him turn away, mumble, "Okay," and leave the way that he came in.

And thus came the shift in the foundation. Everything had changed.

TBC