Chapter 8
It was a chilly morning for late summer, but nonetheless Gina had left the loft rather early in the morning. She'd been feeling pensive – that was the only word she could think of to describe the deeply unsettled feeling she'd been carrying around in the pit of her stomach. It was much worse when she was alone, but dealing with a curious best friend, a huge corporate expansion, and topped off by a ghost from the past re-entering her life, she found herself wanting to be alone more and more. So, when she woke just after dawn that morning and saw how gray and gloomy the landscape was, her skin had started to itch with the knowledge that in a few hours' time, the board room would be full to bursting with her employees and a roomful of lawyers. She'd dressed quickly and headed outside before the city awoke ruined her chance at solitude.
She'd wandered up to Washington Park which capped the West Hills overlooking the city. There was a deep fog coming off the riverfront and obscuring the streets of downtown below her. It made the city seem completely empty, as if she were the only one out there. After an hour of walking aimlessly, the damp chill in the air started to take its toll, and her teeth started to chatter. Cursing herself for wearing nothing more that a white cotton t-shirt, she balked as the misty fog grew into a healthy rain shower, saturating her clothing and soaking her to the skin. Gina debated going back to the loft to dry off and warm up, but she wasn't quite prepared to finish her walk, and it was really starting to come down. So she turned up and headed for the arboretum and its main lodge, deciding that it would be the perfect place to hide out until the rain stopped, and at this hour would surely be deserted.
She walked silently through the rain, and up through the unused picnic structure. It was tall and wooden, open on two sides with astounding views of the city, Mount Hood, and Mount Saint Helens. Two small birds in the rafters made soft cawing noises as if to bid her good morning and then returned to their own affairs. Pulling on the large wooden double doors, she entered the building, reveling in its desertion and thankfully warmer atmosphere. There was a large stone fireplace built into the the west wall, and tables and benches scattered about, no doubt the remnants of a wedding or one of the other functions that were regularly held there. Gina decided to go to the loft where there was a restroom where she could dry off. As she climbed the steps up to the loft, her teeth chattered all the way, despite the fact that the air inside the building was warm and heavy. Her sopping shirt was clinging uncomfortably against her skin, and her wet hair was dripping in her face.
She reached the top of the stairs, her senses soaking in the peace and quiet of it and meandered towards the overlook. The loft was dark and quiet, and on a day like today, it seemed the perfect refuge to curl up with her thoughts and dry off. After a cursory look around her, she decided she had to do something about her current sopping state. She peeled the soaked material away from her skin and up over her head , intending to wring out the moisture as much as she could. Standing in only her shorts and damp cotton bra, Gina laid her shirt over the wooden banister to dry off for a few moments As she leaned over the loft's edge to wring out her hair, a quiet little cough caught her attention, and her blood ran cold.
She spun around, her heart racing in panic as she felt her face flame with embarrassment. Gina heard a soft rustling noise coming from one of the dark corners, and she squinted in the dim light, until the shadow of her refuge's other occupant stood up, and stepped out into the dim light.
As she recognized the unmistakable lanky gait and broad shoulders, Gina thought for sure that she was having a terrible nightmare. For it was completely impossible for this to really be happening, wasn't it? She wouldn't be standing half-naked, completely vulnerable, in front of the one person in the entire world who she'd vowed to never let see her in such a way again? But as she stood there, frozen in horror, her wet hair dripping down her back, she met an familiar pair of feverish brown eyes and knew that this certainly was happening to her.
Hands jumping to cross against her chest, she turned around as quickly as she could, as soon as she was able to regain control of her body. She ripped her shirt off the banister and gathered it against her chest, pressing it as tightly as she could to her body, even though it was much too late. He'd obviously seen everything. Her heart pounded in her ears as she just frantically imagined how she could resume any shred of control in this scenario, but she could only stand there in silence.
Gina could still feel his eyes on her, and as her heart pounded, she willed him to just leave. Minutes that felt like decades slipped by before she finally heard motion coming from where he'd been standing. The rustle of feet striding across the wooden boards, a few slow steps, and then she could feel his presence behind her, looming over her.
Her pulse quickened, and she could feel a strange sort of heat blush over her bare skin. She clutched her wet shirt even tighter against her, willing him to leave because it was so hard to breathe with him standing so close to her.
Then, he bent his head closer – he must have, because she could feel his breath warm against the sensitive skin of her neck, and it was sending shivers down her spine. Breathing shakily, she kept her eyes shut and tried to ignore him, wondering what it was that he was doing, her muscles taut with the tension of the moment. But then her senses jolted to life as she felt a soft touch drawing a line gently from the nape of her neck, to her shoulder and down her skin, to her hip. She trembled from the touch, scarcely daring to move.
Gina tilted her head around slightly, glancing back at him out of the corner of her eye. His head was bent towards her, so close that his mouth was hovering just next to her ear, and he seemed to be staring at her, even as his hand was now lightly trailing up her spine, causing a delicious sensation that made her skin erupt into goose bumps.
And then he sighed, one long heavy sigh against her neck, and she felt something soft drop down around her shoulders. Jerking her head back to stare straight ahead and squeezing her eyes shut once again, Gina's heart started pounding once more. But all she heard were his footsteps as he backed away. A few seconds later, she could hear him quickly walking down the steps, heard the heavy door in the main hall open and shut, and knew that she was blissfully alone once again.
She dropped her cold, wet shirt, and as she moved, the object draped around her shoulders slid off, and her hand moved to catch it. Startled was hardly the word to describe it when she realized that she was clutching a black hooded fleece jacket, and that EJ Wells had draped it chivalrously across her shoulders even as she had stood in front of him shirtless and silent.
Head spinning from the dizzying swirl of thoughts cluttering her brain, Sami's instincts took over, and shut down Gina's staunch control over her body. She wrapped the jacket tightly around her as she dashed down the steps, not pausing or even flinching as she ran out of the building, back out in the rain, which had grown worse and was now lashing down heavily from the sky. She spotted him up ahead, walking back towards the parking lot at a slow, steady pace, as if heedless to the rain. She ran to catch up with him.
He must have heard her footsteps behind him, because he slowed and turned to face her. His t-shirt clung to his wet body and his hair was soaked and hanging in dripping ringlets over his forehead, She stopped abruptly, unsure of what to do now that she had followed him out there. Anything she could think of to say caught in her throat, and so she stood there, just staring at him. He was staring back, his unreadable eyes locking on hers in a moment of intensity that she'd experienced only twice before. A magnetic force seemed to be pulling her towards him, and before she could stop herself, she was moving towards him, slowly, deliberately, even as her heart pounded in her chest with every step she took.
He met her halfway, long muscular legs striding forward, reaching out to cup her face in his hands. There was a moment of pause, as his eyes met hers again and they both seemed to realize the enormity of that moment, but the magnetic force was too strong and it drew them together, despite whatever protest their minds could conjure, until they were standing so close together, she could feel his body heat. His hand stroked her cheek and then guided her face towards his as he stood over her; his lips grazed against hers and a thrill unlike anything she'd ever experienced washed over her. The deliciously sinful sensation of his lips guiltlessly against hers, of his tongue slipping into her mouth and brushing against hers in a tortuously teasing manner, of the heat from his body, of the cold rain beating down on them, was almost too much to bear. She was conscious of his bare skin, her bra clad breasts brushing his chest, nipples tightening. Her thighs clenched together as part of her, long dormant, had definitely re-awakened. Her legs began to tremble.
He pulled away, one hand still resting against her cheek. His veiled eyes met hers once again, and she noted that there now seemed to be an almost indiscernible softness in them, almost a shade of wistfulness. His eyes darted away, and he looked down. She could feel his pulse pounding in his wrist against her throat and thought for a faint moment that her heartbeat was matching his. He looked back at her, eyes wide, biting his lip and it struck her that she was seeing EJ Wells in a completely vulnerable moment - that what had just happened had made him completely unprotected and had exposed something of himself that others weren't meant to see.
The moment was short-lived though, as he closed his eyes and sighed longingly, shoulders sagging in obvious defeat. When his eyes returned to hers, they were once again guarded. Sami struggled to keep from throwing her arms around his neck, and giving in to the traitorous urge to prolong their interlude. But before she could summon the courage, he pursed his mouth thoughtfully, gave her a short nod, and then turned and simply walked away, back out into the rain.
Sami stood there and watched him go, thankful that her tears were indistinguishable from the rains.
