A/N: I am rushing to post this before I lose power. It has flickered twice already. I love snow!
/ / / /
Lou was able to turn that evening's 'boys' night out' into a double date. Mike's girlfriend, Anne, recommended the restaurant, and Lou readily concurred. "There's a great patio," he said. But it was too late in the season to eat outdoors at night and the sky was threatening rain.
Dinner was lovely and it felt wonderful to be a couple in the company of others. They couldn't linger though, as it was a Monday. Anne needed to get up early the next day. For her, the joke that it was a school night was all too true. "I need to get her home," Mike said, smiling. "It takes lots of sleep to face 25 eleven year olds at 8 am."
Good byes were quick on the sidewalk as a drizzle began to fall. Lou held Mary's hand and stood fast, resisting the tug that she had hoped would steer him to the car.
"Lou?" she questioned.
"C'm'ere," he whispered. He drew her back towards the building, and they rounded the brick wall then. "It really is a great patio."
"Could it be a 'great patio' that we visit some other time?"
He laughed and walked her between the rows of fake topiary.
"The patio is closed," she complained, as she thumped the sign he was pushing her past.
"I love that whole rule following thing you have. It makes it seem even more exciting then when I get you to do something."
"Just what did you have in mind?" she asked, warily.
"Just this."
He led her by the hand as the rain fell harder on them. He skipped the cover of the canopies to purposely stand in the wet darkness beyond. Slowly then, in between teasing kisses, he opened her raincoat and insinuated himself into its warmth. The feel of his hands, cool and damp through her blouse, sent the most pleasant chills through her. "Oh God," she whispered.
He kissed her deeply then, and it was wonderful. The feel and taste of the water on their lips made it all the more sensual.
"We're drenched," she told him, but she wasn't complaining now.
"You'll need warming up when we get back to my place," he whispered. "You'll need …. someone to get you out of these wet clothes. Someone to make sure you are very, very warm."
He was taken off guard when she leaned in to answer him without words. She tongued across his lips to catch the raindrops there. She kissed him hard then as her hands fisted in his jacket and pulled him in tighter – all of this was new, Lou thought. Not something she had ever done before in a potentially public place.
… …
She rested her hand on his thigh as they drove home. He cranked the heat and looked at her apologetically when she let out of shiver. "God, I'm sorry, Mary. I don't know why I thought that was a good idea."
"It was a lovely idea. But it would have been lovelier in July. And, you know, I wasn't cold at the time."
"No, me neither," he said with a strange little smile. He wiped more water out of his eyes. "You aren't mad at me?"
"For having a romantic fantasy? For wanting to kiss me in the rain. No!" she insisted. SHe paused then before making her confession. "I think about things like that."
He hustled her in his front door as soon as they arrived. They were smiling then as they pulled off each other's clothes. They stood by the bed getting dried off, using up all the clean towels in the process.
"What kind of things do you think about then?" he wanted to know, sounding almost uneasy. "You know, when you think about things, like kissing in the rain."
She smiled and kissed him. Led him to the bed. "I think my imagination is pretty pedestrian," she told him as she burrowed in close to him under the covers. "I day dream about the usual things. Candle light and fireplaces. Or a quiet cabin somewhere. Maybe..."
She trailed off as if embarrassed.
"Come on. Maybe what?" he prompted softly.
"Um, maybe a sleeper car on the train."
"Well, I've got candles in the kitchen," he told her. He kissed her deeply then with a pleasant slowness. It was all very seductive. And she thought she knew exactly where they were headed until a wicked grin crept across his face. "And if we shake the bed, we can pretend we are on a train."
She laughed. "I love you like this."
"Naked?"
Mary smiled harder then. "I had meant romantic. Funny. And mine. But yeah, naked, too."
/
Come Friday, they were planning on a quiet night at his place after work. Mary was all set to go, and she was just waiting for Lou. She leaned against the desk in his office while he checked his inbox one more time.
Everyone else was gone for the night, and half the office lights were already off. Mary sighed as she considered how they'd somehow ended up the last ones there.
"You can go on ahead without me," he offered.
"Uhn uh, Mister. I'm not risking you getting distracted here. We'll leave for your place at the same time."
He groaned then as he found something in the bottom of the pile he was pawing through. "Okay. Okay, two minutes. Five tops. I just need to leave this in the film room," he said shaking a canister at her. She waved him off dramatically, and he turned and walked out.
She got bored waiting for him, but found she couldn't sit still. Then, staring at his coat rack, she began to feel a bit impish. He hadn't worn the old hat in a year. Even he had begun to realize the thing was out of date. She smiled as she reached for it and then pulled it onto her head. She was giggling as the brim slid down to the bridge of her nose. It all made her realize how happy and settled she felt now with Lou. More than anything, she felt... comfortable. A dozen old dance moves came to her as she pushed the hat higher. She was that happy, she guessed.
His coat came off the rack then, and she pushed her arms through the sleeves. She spun once and pulled the coat tightly around her. It just felt good. Smelled good. She flipped the collar up around her face and collapsed into his chair. She didn't care that the hat fell down over her eyes again as she kicked her feet up on the desk. She just closed her eyes and started to hum. Soon she was singing.
"Mary?" came the man's strangled sounding query.
It wasn't Lou. But she knew who it was.