WWLAOS: Maybe she was trying to tell you guys something :)
continental-line: The next (and final) chapter will be lemony. I plan on writing it how I want, then censoring it for the site. I'll keep the other version available to email to anyone who wants to read it.
Rachel: I need your email provider. I didn't get the part after the sign. Maybe you need to spell out the dot? Like firelassmchsi(dot)com.
Thanks to: loves-winged-dark-angel, seras234, Ravenshadowflame, Phillip the Nickel, Digital-DNA, Tadashi, white-fanged-demon, BMBLover, LotisMasterBrit, killerofdragons, fanjimmy, Guinivere Sage, Imagenation Queen, Leena LeBeau, kimnronever, Thalia-Sandy, Sandra Radcliffe, SesshaWaRurouni, potter078, Bob the dancing flea, Godhand's Number, RietroFan42, shepyt, wildste, warprince2000, jamesstutz, John Steppenwolf, mattb3671, threeandout, Katie, outlawarcher, Fuzzie Muzzie, captainkodak1, Triaxx2.
The rest of the day passed surprisingly quickly. After brunch Kim and Ron headed for the hotel's indoor pool complex. The original plan was to have a good, long soak in the hot tub to drive away the last of the chill that had sunk into their bones during their stay in the cabin. Ron, however, ignored the hot tub and stretched out on an oversized beach chair.
"Uh, Ron?" Kim asked, gesturing at the hot tub.
"Change of plan, K.P.," Ron answered. "I'm still feeling a bit full, and I don't want to cramp up."
Kim grinned in disbelief. "I doubt you'd get a cramp from sitting in a tub of hot water," she mocked gently.
"Why risk it?" Ron shot back, smiling. "Just a little while, K.P. Maybe half an hour?"
Kim sighed dramatically. "I suppose," she relented, and headed for the chair next to Ron.
"Ahem."
Kim paused when she heard Ron clear his throat. She looked at him. He was looking at her, patting the space beside him on his own chair. Kim's eyes widened slightly, then her lips quirked into an amused grin. It was a little unusual for Ron to do something like that. Normally Kim found such gestures merely nice. This time it made her heart flutter a bit. She obeyed with a sly smile. The chair was a bit bigger than necessary for one person, but there really wasn't room for two. It forced a certain amount of physical...closeness.
Kim slipped one arm behind Ron's neck, draping the other across his chest, while her legs intertwined with his. She lay on her side, facing him with her head resting on his outstretched arm. His free hand settled on the side of her ribcage and drifted slowly down to her hip. There, his fingers played lightly with the fabric of the bottoms of her two piece swim suit before stilling.
"Comfy?" Kim asked softly.
"Yes. Yes, I am," Ron answered. Kim responded by snuggling against him. Ron sighed happily. After a few minutes he spoke.
"K.P?"
"Mmmhmm?"
"Have you ever wondered why we...uh, that is, you and I, have never...uh, you know, done the whole 'take it to the next level' thing?" Ron said, hating himself for stammering nervously.
Kim's eyes, which had been closed, opened and looked into his own.
"You mean, why haven't we tried the 'boyfriend/girlfriend' thing?"
"Yeah," Ron confirmed.
Kim shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I mean, I've thought about it, just like you have..."
"How do you know that?" Ron interrupted.
Kim grinned. "Monique told me, after the Moodulator incident." Ron blushed.
"But every time I came close to deciding to ask you out," Kim went on, "I'd end up asking myself 'What if it doesn't work out?'"
"Oh, yeah," Ron agreed. "I know that question well. What if it doesn't work out? It could ruin our friendship. And of course, I don't want that."
"Me either," Kim said with a melancholy smile. "So, I guess the answer is fear. I'm afraid of what'll happen if we take the next step and fall flat on our faces."
"I can understand that," Ron allowed, giving Kim a reassuring squeeze. "But," he went on, "What if we just end up at the next level?"
Kim frowned in puzzlement. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I guess what I mean is, maybe we don't want to take a deliberate step to the next level, but what if we just find ourselves heading that way naturally?"
"You mean, what if one day we happen to kiss, and the kiss happens to become passionate, and we happen to find our way into the nearest bed?" Kim suggested, running a finger along the line of Ron's jaw.
"More or less," Ron confirmed, his face scarlet.
"I'm pretty sure I could learn to live with that," Kim assured him with a teasing smile. Ron shook his head, drew Kim close and kissed her on the tip of her nose.
"You're the best, K.P," he said. Kim just smiled.
"You're not so bad yourself, Ron," she murmured in reply.
That evening they retired early. True, most of their time in the cabin had been spend in bed and/or sleeping, but they had also expended a tremendous amount of energy just to stay warm, and were still physically drained from their ordeal.
Ron crawled into his bed, drawing the covers up as he did so. It was sinfully comfortable: satin sheets, a blanket of silk-like artificial fibers, all topped by a fluffy comforter.
'Nothing like that lumpy mattress and those wool blankets,' Ron said to himself as he settled in. There was the sound of a door latch, and Kim emerged from the bathroom where she'd been getting ready for bed. She was wearing a long tee shirt as a nightgown. Ron assumed she had panties on, but it was clear from the way her breasts moved beneath the fabric of the shirt that she wasn't wearing a bra.
Ron watched as Kim climbed into her own bed. As she bent forward to draw back the covers her shirt rode up, revealing that she was, in fact, wearing panties. Ron had such a good view of her backside that he immediately suspected the exposure was deliberate. His guess was confirmed to his satisfaction when Kim took a surreptitious glance back at him, noted where his eyes were aimed, and smiled a tiny, but immensely self-satisfied smile. Then she was under her covers and stretching out to go to sleep.
"Good night, Ron," she yawned.
"'Night, Kim," Ron returned.
He couldn't fall asleep. As tired as he was, Ron assumed he'd pass out as soon as his head hit the pillow. He rolled and turned, adjusted his pillows, did everything he could think of, but he couldn't drop off.
'Maybe this bed is too comfortable,' he mused to himself. That was possible, he supposed. Sounds from the other bed suggested Kim was in similar straits. Ron was about to speak up when Kim threw back her bedclothes and swung out of bed. She crossed the narrow space between the beds and looked down at Ron.
"Move over," she commanded grumpily.
Ron obeyed in silence. Kim slid beneath the covers and snuggled against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Almost at once a wave of weariness washed over him and his eyelids drooped. Kim, apparently though, wasn't quite comfortable enough. Without a word she sat up, and in one fluid motion stripped off her nightshirt and tossed it on the floor. She definitely wasn't wearing a bra. She lay back down, pressing herself against Ron's side. If Ron hadn't been so tired he was sure his blood flow pattern would have changed significantly. As it was he only managed to work his jaw a few times before getting out a question.
"Uh, Kim, is there anything you want to say to me?"
Kim touched a finger to his lips to shush him. "G'night, Ron," she mumbled sleepily. Ron's eyelids drooped again. He fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Ron woke up needing to go to the bathroom. When he had taken care of his business he slipped back into bed and stared at Kim. She was sleeping peacefully, her light, rhythmic breathing barely audible in the quiet. The covers had slipped down during the night, uncovering her upper torso. Ron gazed appreciatively at the supple swellings of her breasts, their rosebud tips plainly visible in the dim light. He reached out and brushed the soft skin of her shoulder with his fingers, gliding down her back, across the shoulder blade and down her side. The light touch woke her up, and her eyes opened.
"Good morning," Kim said softly, aware of her nakedness but not bothering to cover it.
"Good morning," Ron returned, leaning in and kissing her, ever so gently, on the lips. When they parted Ron drew back only slightly, keeping his gaze locked on those gorgeous, glowing green eyes.
"I like first-thing-in the-morning kisses," Kim confided, laying a hand on the side of Ron's face.
"I'll have to remember that," Ron observed.
"See that you do," Kim commanded, drawing him in and kissing him again.
"Kim," Ron said hesitantly.
"Yes, Ron?" Kim asked expectantly.
Ron opened his mouth, closed it, frowned.
"What does one say in a situation like this?" he asked almost plaintively.
Kim smiled in understanding.
"Pillow talk is almost always trite, and more than a little silly. Usually though, the people engaging in it are too hormone addled to notice."
Ron made a show of pondering that.
"Are you hormone addled?" he asked flippantly.
"I could easily become so," Kim answered playfully. Ron grinned. "How about you?" Kim added hopefully.
"Things are trending that way," Ron admitted solemnly. Kim grinned as well, slid closer, and kissed him again. The kiss lingered, grew passionate.
Breaking off, Kim drew back.
"What time is it?" she asked.
Ron blinked and glanced at the alarm clock.
"Five thirty seven," he read aloud.
"And the hotel restaurant doesn't open 'til seven," Kim said mournfully. That was a bald faced lie. Ron knew that she knew perfectly well it opened at six, and was about to say so when she went on, "An hour and twenty minutes. What will we do to pass the time?"
Ron blinked again, then grinned, and finally smiled broadly.
"I take you have something in mind?" he prodded.
Kim pushed at him gently, guiding him down until he lay flat on his back. She slid on top of him.
"I seem to recall," she said between the kisses she began planting on his lips, "you saying that you loved me."
"I seem to recall saying something along those lines, yes," Ron confirmed, his arms going round her, hands caressing the taut muscles of her back. Kim glanced to one side, as if in thought, then turned to Ron with smoldering eyes.
"Why don't you show me how much?" she suggested.
