Chapter 5

Chris looked up at the ceiling in the dark, thinking, trying his hardest to figure out why he had done what he'd done. He had kissed Stephanie, his best friend, and his wife had been right in the other room. Here he was, supposedly helping Stephanie with her many problems, and instead he had gone and created another one. She was still trying to get over Hunter, even though she had been divorced for nearly a year, and there Chris had gone and made a move on her. Would she ever look at him the same way again?

"Are you ok?" Jess asked, scooting over to snuggle against him.

"Yeah, I guess," he said in an unconvincing tone, putting his arm around his wife. "I'm just thinking."

"About?" she asked curiously.

"Something stupid I did tonight to Steph, and we'll leave it at that," he said, still looking up at the ceiling.

She knew not to argue with him because she could tell that he was in one of his little moods, so she decided to change the subject. "Do you think Steph and Rich are getting along now?"

"Who knows?" he asked, answering her question with a question. He knew that Rich had probably gone and asked Stephanie what had happened between them back in the kitchen, and he could only hope that Stephanie hadn't revealed the fact that he had actually kissed her.

"I still wonder how Rich got her to come to dinner when you couldn't," she said curiously. "Makes me wonder about those two."

"He probably annoyed her until she got up and came," he replied, closing his eyes. He could still remember dinner, the jokes, the teasing...the touching... "They seemed to be flirting a lot at dinner, and I didn't really like it."

"It didn't seem like flirting to me. It was just their usual arguing," she said thoughtfully. "But they were a bit touchy-feely."

"God, don't remind me," he said, trying not to think about it. "I need to get some sleep, and so do you."

"You sure all you want to do is sleep?" she asked in a suggestive tone, running her hand across his chest. "Because I have other things in mind..."

"Oh, really?" he asked in a knowing voice, opening his eyes. He looked at her and smiled when he saw the look on her face. "Why don't you show me?"

She grinned at him as she leaned closer to kiss him. "Why, I thought you'd never ask..."

The next morning...

Stephanie awoke the next morning to the feeling of a warm body lying next to her. She felt hair on her shoulder that wasn't hers, and she closed her eyes and silently prayed that she hadn't gotten drunk the night before and done something totally stupid with Chris. She held her breath for a minute, then turned to look at the person lying next to her. When she saw Rich lying there, she covered her mouth with her hands so she wouldn't scream.

She sat up, and the events of the previous night rushed back to her. She could remember how offended she'd gotten over Rich's reminder of the Grand Canyon comment, how Chris had come over to the guest house to comfort her and make sure she was ok. She had gone over to have dinner with them after a little persuasion from Rich. Dinner had gone relatively well with the usual teasing between her and Rich, but after dinner was when things had gotten weird. Chris had volunteered to do the dishes with her, but they hadn't gotten any dishes done at all.

"He kissed me," she whispered aloud, touching her lips and remembering how Chris had pulled her to him and kissed her softly. Of course, that hadn't been much of a kiss, because Rich had walked in on them right before they could share a real kiss.

Rich... Stephanie looked down at him and thought that he looked so innocent, sleeping the way that he was. She'd never seen him look so innocent... But he wasn't innocent at all, if what they'd done last night was any indication. She looked away from him, thinking. She didn't know how what they'd done have even happened. She'd gotten out of the shower and found him waiting for her with no shirt on. He had wanted to talk about what he had walked in on, but she had just covered it up, saying that the kiss hadn't happened.

And then he'd kissed her.

It was crazy, really, because when he had kissed her the second time, she'd kissed him back. And when they had made their way over to the bed and fell onto it, all tangled up together, she hadn't pushed him away. In fact, she had pulled him closer...

The things they had done...

"What are you thinking about?" Rich asked in a low voice.

"I...um... Are you talking to me?" Stephanie asked, not looking at him. Yeah, it was easy to look at him while he slept, but she couldn't meet his gaze now that he was wide awake. She felt...embarrassed. And besides being embarrassed, she felt dirty. She'd slept with a married man, something she had damned Trish Stratus for doing in the past with her father... God, I'm just like her! she thought, and she got up, pulling the comforter off the bed with her.

"Where are you going?" he asked, sitting up and looking at her with one eyebrow raised. "And of course I'm talking to you. You're the only person in here."

"Oh." She shifted uncomfortably and pulled the comforter closer as she slowly backed towards the door leading to the bathroom. "I guess I am... I didn't realize that."

"Man, I guess The Duke really put it on you last night, huh, Princess?" he joked, standing up and pulling his boxers on. "I mean, I must've been good because you're kinda out of it this morning."

"You're so full of yourself!" she exclaimed. She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door, but not before hearing his last words.

"And last night, so were you."

"Shit," she muttered, leaning against the closed door. "What have I done?"

Over in the main house, Chris was standing in the kitchen, looking through the glass doors over at the guest house. He wondered if Stephanie was awake yet, and if so, was she mad at him for kissing her? He sighed as he stared over at the entrance to the guest house, mentally willing the door to open so Stephanie could come out.

"You're up early," Jess said from behind him. "What's wrong?"

He didn't even turn to look at her. "Just wondering how Steph and Rich got along last night. You know, and hoping they didn't kill each other over there."

"I'm sure they didn't," she said. "They might argue a lot, but they'd never do anything to hurt you."

"You think so?"

"You're the one thing they have in common," she assured him. "Rich knows that if he killed Steph, you'd be very, very angry with him, and Steph knows that you'd be pissed if she killed Rich. I'm sure they got along ok last night."

He turned to look at her and tried to smile, but found that he couldn't. "I really appreciate your attempt to make me laugh...but it's not working." He saw the crestfallen look on her face and quickly went on. "But I love you that much more for trying." He kissed her lightly on the forehead and tucked her hair back behind her ear.

She smiled up at him. "I'm going to go get dressed so I can get breakfast started," she said, pulling her robe a little tighter around her slim figure. "Could you do me a favor and check on Ash?"

"No problem," he replied. He watched her as she smiled gratefully at him before rushing out of the room to go get dressed. He felt amazingly guilty all of a sudden. Sure, it had just been a kiss, but he was married, and his wife was undoubtedly one of the best things to ever happen to him. She didn't deserve for her husband to be kissing another woman, even if it was the first time it had ever happened...

He walked upstairs and to his son's room and was surprised to find him dressed already, playing in his bed. "Well, Mommy didn't tell me that you were up all ready," Chris said, smiling down at the little boy. Ash reached up, and Chris picked him up. "Don't you think you're getting a bit big for me to be holding?" he asked, and Ash just giggled at him. "Come on, then, and let's go for a little walk..."

Chris and Ash ended up sitting under the same tree Stephanie had gone to sit under the day before. Chris looked out over the lake and sighed. "Daddy made a big mess of things with Aunt Steph," he said softly, remembering the kiss from the night before. "And now I think Aunt Steph is mad at me. Really mad."

"Mad?" Ash repeated in his little baby voice.

"Yes, mad," Chris confirmed, wondering if his son could really understand what he was saying. "I haven't seen her this morning. Do you think I should call her cell phone or just go over to the guest house and see her?" He waited for an answer, and when he didn't get one, he decided to make it a little easier. "See or call?"

"Call," Ash said, just repeating the last thing he had heard.

"I can't believe I'm taking advice from a two year old," Chris said, shaking his head. "As far as true friends go, I don't have many...so I can't afford losing Steph over this." He pulled out his Sidekick II and soon he had the phone up to his ear, listening to it ring and hoping that Stephanie would answer.

"Hey, Princess, your phone is ringing!" Rich called.

"Leave me alone!" Stephanie called back. She was still locked in the bathroom, and she had no intentions of going out until she was sure that he wasn't there.

"Fine, but I looked at your Caller ID, and it's Chris, so I'm going to answer it," Rich said. He picked up the phone, which just happened to be a Sidekick II just like Chris's, and answered it. "Hello?"

"Rich?" Chris asked, raising one eyebrow. "Why are you answering Stephanie's phone?"

"She locked herself in the bathroom so I decided to answer her phone for her," Rich said.

"Why'd she lock herself in the bathroom?" Chris asked worriedly. "Is it because of last night?"

"You know about last night?" Rich asked incredulously.

"Of course I know about... Wait, what happened last night?"

Rich relaxed a little. "Steph and I...got into an argument last night. It's just the usual," he lied.

"Oh, you had me worried there for a second," Chris said, laughing nervously. "Could you let me speak to Steph now?"

"If she'll come out of the bathroom," Rich said, walking over to the closed bathroom door. He knocked lightly. "Stephanie? Chris wants to speak to you!"

"I won't talk to him unless you leave," Stephanie said, looking over at the toilet. She didn't know why she was looking at the toilet, but she was, and soon she found herself wishing that she could flush herself down the toilet, just to get out of this predicament...

"Fine, I'll put the phone down on the bed and leave," Rich said. "And I'll even close the door and lock it so you'll feel all nice and safe," he added sarcastically. To Chris, he said, "She'll talk to you in a sec. I have to leave first."

Chris waited for Rich to leave. About a minute later, he heard the phone being picked up.

"Chris, is that you?" Stephanie asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, it's me," he answered. "Are you upset with me?"

"Why would I be upset with you?" she asked.

"You know, because of last night in the kitchen," he reminded her. "I don't know what came over me, and I don't know why I got so jealous of the way you and Rich were acting at dinner. You know I'm not like that."

"I know..." Her voice trailed off, and she gripped the phone a little tighter. "How long is Rich going to be staying here?"

"A couple of days, I think," he replied. "Why?"

"Because I... I don't want to stay in the guest house with him anymore," she whispered. "Do you think I could sleep over in the main house until he leaves? Like, would that be ok with Jess?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine with her," he said. "Rich told me about that argument that you two had last night. It was that bad, huh?"

"You have no idea," she said. Argument? What argument? she thought. "Did Rich...tell you what happened last night?"

"He only told me that you two had an argument," he replied. "Um, do you want me to come help you move your stuff into the main house?"

"That would be... I would really appreciate that," she said softly. "Come on over. I have to get dressed."

"Get dressed?" he repeated, and images of her getting dressed popped into his head. Shit, what am I thinking? She's my best friend! he reminded himself. And I'm married. I so shouldn't be thinking of her that way...

"Yeah, I need to get dressed," she said in a low voice. "I'll be ready in a few minutes..."

"Ok, I'm going to take Ash back in the house, and then I'll come over to the guest house."

"Wait, you have Ash? Can you bring him with you?" she asked hopefully. "That little boy... He always cheers me up, no matter what kind of mood I'm in."

"I'll bring him. We'll be there in two minutes," he said. He pressed the end button, then looked at Ash. "Guess you were right, Ash. Calling first was a good idea," he said. He stood up, and together they headed for the guest house.

A/N: Weird chap, I know! The next one will be better, I hope...