Romance MF: A Suspense Story With A Dark Hidden Secret (romance short story, suspense romance, romantic short stories, adult romance Book 1) (3 page)

             
Such a strange day
, he mused. It was so odd where circumstances had led him, to a cozy cabin in the shadow of a mountain with a beautiful adventurous woman in his lap. He wanted to laugh again at how surreal it all was and opened his mouth to say something to Lily but her eyes were already closed. The steady rise and fall of her small breasts wrinkled the black tank-top and her lips were partly open. Her eyelids were shut tightly, and there was a serene and exhausted expression on his sleeping face, as if she hadn’t slept for days and was now perfectly at ease beside him.

              He smiled and pulled the blanket further over her and she wriggled closer to him. Outside the rain hammered against the windowpanes, but everything was, for the first time, suddenly okay as Shane closed his eyes.

4.

              That night Shane had many strange dreams, a swirling and variegated collection of weird imagery that all conspired against him in confusion. But when he woke, there was one dream still solid and unwavering in his memory, and he had to blink several times to make sure he was actually awake.

              He’d been on a beach somewhere. He could still feel the sensation of sand sinking between his toes, the coolness of it running up his calves. Giant sandstone cliffs behind him were crowned with Sitka spruce. The sound of the waves crashing had filled his ears, and he had felt at peace.

              And then in the dream he had felt another presence near him as he gazed out at the slate grey depth of the ocean. He had felt someone behind him, and a small feminine hand wrapped between his. Then he had awoken.

              He blinked again at the sunlight that was sifting in through the windowsill by the door and heard the patter of water dripping very slowly off the eaves. Somewhere a ratatat of a woodpecker issued from the forested hills. He yawned and looked down and saw that Lily was asleep, somehow during the night she’d switched positions and her head was now askew on his lap. One hand was raised next to her ear and she was breathing very quietly.

              This was another dream that had suddenly become real.
I think part of me thought that I would eventually wake up and it would all be a dream, meeting Lily
. But it wasn’t, and he was awake, and could feel her squirm against his knees as she turned over and he could see her face in the morning light. She truly was beautiful. He stretched and she slowly opened her eyes and she smiled up at him.

              “Oh, hi.”

              “Oh, hi,” he repeated back, “did you sleep okay?”

              She turned on his knees. “Yeah, for the most part. I was pretty zonked out. How about you? Sorry, I kind of hijacked you as a pillow.”

              “I’m okay,” he said, “I can pretty much sleep in any position. I learned that a long time ago when I had to take the subway to work. I could virtually fall asleep standing up.”

              “That’s a handy talent. You should teach me that one,” she said.

              “It looks like it stopped raining at least,” he said and she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes and looked around the room.

              “That’s a godsend. My clothes are dry, too. Why don’t you go take a shower, I saw one in the bathroom. I don’t know if it’s hot or not. It’s my turn to make something to eat,” she insisted and bounded up and skipped to the kitchen.

              He laughed until she squinted and gave him a look. “What’s so funny?”

              “You, I suppose. You’re irrepressible,” he said.

              “I like to move. And dance, oh! Do you have an iPod or something? I love to cook to music,” she asked.

              “I think so, it’s in the glove box. Alright, I’ll take your advice and shower, I can’t believe I’m still wearing this thing,” he said, motioning to his business shirt.

              “Ah, it’s not too bad.”

              “I was working in it all yesterday,” he countered.

              “Well, whatever. You smell nice,” she said, and then blushed frantically and turned her head back toward the kitchen counter and started rooting through the box of groceries he’d brought in.

              He frowned as he walked to the bathroom and cast the clothes into the corner. That was an odd quirk of hers, and the first time he’d seen it.
I hardly know her, what am I saying,
he said to himself, catching his own reflection in the mirror. Still, as open and honest and free as she was, there were undeniably secrets to her too. The fact she was so generally open and talkative all the time made those rare moments of silence and reticence from her even more mysterious and ominous.

              He shook his head and stepped into the shower and gasped when the first splash of water hit his shoulders. It wasn’t glacial, but it was by no means warm water either. He held his breath and turned it on all the way, and felt his body almost go into shock as he got used to the temperature. He washed himself as well as he could with an old piece of soap and, shivering, stepped out and wrapped a towel around himself.

              In the mirror he took a hard long look at himself. It might have been his imagination but he looked younger. His eyes weren’t quite as hollow and indented as he remembered them being. There was a vitality to his features, and he smiled. He had never had any problems with body image per se, but being skinny growing up he’d resented the fact that he never seemed to get any bigger no matter how much he worked out.

              But now, as he admired himself in the mildew-bitten mirror, he had to admire the toned abdomen and lithe muscles of his arms and chest. Rather than growing out, all his muscles seemed to have remained the same size, but increased in density. Then, catching himself off-guard, he shook his head.
Vanity should be the least of your sins
, he thought.

              Still, there was something symbolic about having wanted to look like other men his age. The idea of working so hard to achieve something that other people had.
Not anymore
.

              He stepped out of the bathroom and saw that Lily had gotten his iPod and was now swaying her hips as she cut onions and grated cheese onto a pan full of scrambled eggs. She hadn’t seen him yet and he took the few second it took to cross to the adjoining bedroom to study her. She was mouthing the words to an Arcade Fire song as she twirled in the tight light blue jeans, and the too-short tank top kept riding up, revealing the small of her back which was smoothly tanned and dimpled.

              He smiled and shut the bedroom door. In the old dresser he found a pair of jeans that were half a size too big, but other than that fit him well. There was also a navy green T-shirt and an old featureless grey sweatshirt that zippered up the front.

              “Ooooh, much better,” Lily said when he exited, “don’t get me wrong, guys in suits can be cute, but I prefer the casual Shane. Much more approachable. You look like you’re ready for anything.”

              “I wonder what business-Lily looks like,” he countered, sitting down on the table in front of the living room as she brought over two steaming plates full of eggs. The smell made his stomach gurgle and he nodded approvingly.

              “Special recipe,” she said, and whispered, “it’s all about the hot-sauce.”

              “Is that a nomad trade secret?”

              “Kind of. Usually when you’re on the road, you have to carry all your stuff – clothes, shelter, food. And you want to pack light, so sometimes you have to be a bit picky about what you can afford to carry. That’s where
this
comes in handy,” she said, holding up a half-empty bottle of Tabasco sauce with the label water-damaged beyond recognition.

              He took in a mouthful and nodded. “I’ll remember that.”

              “Absolutely, actually this one time-”

              She was cut short by a muted ringing sound and Shane looked up. He checked his pockets and realized he’d left his own phone back in the Toyota. Lily held up her finger as if to say
hold that thought
and scrambled to her knees toward her old backpack again. It was a well-worn artifact, most of the straps were frayed, and the color (which had once been purple and green) had been faded with time, sun, and rain.

              She reached deep into one of the inner pockets and pulled out an old Nokia flip phone and the blue screen cast her face in an azure mask. It took her several moments to read whatever was on the screen and Shane watched her scroll back up and read it again. Something in her face changed noticeably, and he saw a muscle in her jaw tighten.

              “Everything okay?” he asked with a piece of egg still in his mouth.

              She looked up and tried to smile at him, but he knew she was hiding something. “Yeah, just a friend. You know how it is, drama.”

              “Oh yeah. I’ve had plenty of that,” he lied. He hadn’t really had any drama in his life whatsoever, in part because he had somehow alienated or distanced himself from anyone that
could
elicit drama. He found himself suddenly wishing for it.

              “I don’t think you’ve had drama quite like this,” she said, as if sensing his thoughts.

“You’re probably right.”

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Nothing that can’t wait until later,” she said, stuffing the phone back in her backpack. “So! Can we go exploring yet?!”

5.

              The phone call had bothered him but he decided not to bring it up again. Lily led him outside and he was surprised to see that the valley they were in really was quite spectacular. It was sub-alpine, and the meadow below the cabin stretched out in a winding carpet of green all the way back down the road. Behind the cabin a thick wall of dark conifers extended up the mountainside, and he could make out the glinting of snow huddled in the basin of the far mountain. The creek that ran past the cabin was glacial fed and when he dipped his hand into it he had to pull back immediately it was so cold. But it was sweet, and clear, the purest water he had ever tasted, and Lily laughed at his amazement.

              “That’s what you get for being a city slicker,” she said,

              She led him by the hand over a small bridge that led across the creek and happened to find a well-used trail that wandered up the side of the farthest hill. Shane didn’t realize quite how out of shape he was until he was trailing behind Lily, who was a mountain goat compared to him. Her strong legs were relentless, carrying her up the sheer switchbacks, and he found himself panting.
Thank goodness for the kickboxing, or I’d never be able to keep up with her at all
, he thought, grateful suddenly for his exercise regiment back in the city.

              He kept his head to the ground and focused on breathing so much that he was surprised when he finally stopped and looked up. Lily had stopped too and was sitting down on a lichen covered rock and looking out across the valley below them. Her blond bangs were plastered to her forehead and she combed them out of her eyes with the back of her hand as he sat down beside her.

              “Oh man,” he exclaimed.

              It wasn’t just a great view, it was stupendous. Below them the cabin was just a black speck, and he could see the outline of the logging road they had used to get there as it threaded its way back down the peaks toward the ocean. Fog was still perched over the water, obscuring their view of Vancouver Island in the distance, but he could see across the water and several fishing boats were displayed like trophies on the dark waves.

              Lily closed her eyes and breathed in deep. “Listen,” she said, and urged him to do the same.

              Reluctantly Shane closed his eyes too and tried to listen for whatever it was he was supposed to hear. At first all he could make out was the internal rhythm of his own heart beating against his chest like a tribal drum. There was a slight ringing in his ears from climbing to such a high altitude so quickly.

              Slowly, he became aware of other sounds. The rasping of the leaves on the poplar behind them as a gust of wind cartwheeled up the mountain, carrying the scent of salt and the ocean. Somewhere he also heard a scratching like a chipmunk startling over the rocks. He could also hear Lily’s breathing and realized after a moment that she was trying to match it to his. He smiled in spite of himself and cooperated until both of them were breathing in and out at the same pace.

              Suddenly he felt her hand brush his from where it was balance on the rock and his heart raced for a second and he lost the pace. He opened his eyes slowly and saw her small finger overlaid on top of his. She opened her eyes and winked at him.

              “Gotcha,” she giggled, “let’s go a little higher. I want to take a picture, but we need a better view. C’mon, get up, get up!”

              She pulled out Shane’s camera that he kept in his glove box. It was a cheap Pentax digital, and he hadn’t ever really used it. He’d never had any particular capability with a camera anyway, it was just something that everyone else did, so he’d bought it more out of a desire to fit in than anything else.

              “You found it,” he said.

              “It’s got some interesting pictures on it already,” she said, drawing out the syllables on
interesting
, and Shane’s heart raced again.

              “Wait, I’ve never even used it,” he said, a little uncertain.

              She laughed out loud, her white teeth flashing at him and he realized he’d been had a second time. “Gotcha again,” she said, wobbling her head and racing up the trail.

              They stopped again several times as Lily led him further away from the cabin and he started to feel a little apprehensive. She had no worries whatsoever, and he felt like he was suddenly having to take charge of a child. He was certain that he had heard tales about bears and cougars living in and around the area, but she was almost casual in her approach to the possibility of danger. It bothered him, and he suddenly felt like had to be mature.

              “C’mon, Lily. We should head back,” he said in his most serious voice.

              “Why?” she asked, as if it was a totally foreign concept to turn back.

              “Because, we’re in the middle of the woods and have nothing with us. We didn’t bring any water or food, and I’m just trusting you to get us back afterwards. We’ve lost the trail a dozen times already. I think we need to head back,” he said.

              “C’mon, don’t be a baby,” she said, urging him on with a wave.

              “No! I’m serious, this is… if you’re not going to be an adult about this,” he began and saw a suddenly hurt look in her face.

              “Baby? Seriously, Shane? I’ve been living on my own for a decade, with no help from anyone. You want to call
me
a baby?”

              “I didn’t meant it like that,” he said, “I just think… we should be more careful here.”

              “We’re fine, Shane.”

              “I don’t think so,” he said, folding his arms.

              He didn’t really want to stand up to her like this. It was true, she probably knew more about living in the wild than he did, but it didn’t ease any of his fears. She was being childish, that was clear, and he had a duty and obligation to protect her even if she hated him for it.

              She snubbed her nose at him. “Fine. Stay here. I’m going ahead… I want a picture with a good view. If you want to wait for me, that’s okay too,” she said and turned with a disappointed shrug of her shoulders.

              “Lily!” he almost shouted, and was alarmed at how well his voice carried in the still air. Her name echoed through the columns of fir they were walking through and she turned very slowly and looked down on him.

              “Your choice,” she said, and there was now a firmness in her voice.

              She kept walking up the trail and he watched her go for several seconds and swore under his breath.
Child
, he wanted to scream, but knew it would do more harm than good. He didn’t want to give her any more reason to wander off, and muttered as much to himself as he grunted up the path.

              After about another fifteen minutes he was gasping again and bent over with his palms on his thighs and saw that Lily was sitting cross-legged on a rock outcrop. He stumbled onto the rock and saw that she had chosen a good place for a picture, after all. It didn’t excuse her actions, but at least now she’d be satisfied and they could go back.

              “Don’t yell at me again,” she said, not bothering to look up.

              “What?” he gasped.

              “I said don’t yell at me again.” Her voice was level and he could tell that she was still harboring some anger. She uncrossed her legs and he saw her lips were pursed into a frown, and one of her eyebrows had slanted downward, giving her a quizzical pissed-off kind of look. He gasped for another breath.

              “I didn’t…. listen, I didn’t meant to yell. I’m just… out of my element, up here.”

              “I get that,” she said, “I just don’t like being yelled at.”

              “I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to yell at you, really. It won’t happen again, okay?”

              He sat down with a
whoof
next to her and crossed his legs. The smell of the trees was overpowering, like a verdant cologne that was at once intoxicating and perilously wild. She sat back on her hands and bend her head back, her long smooth neck forming an almost straight line with her chest.

              He picked up the camera beside her and there was an audible click as he snapped a photo. She turned her head, still posing, and stuck her tongue out at him, and he snapped another.

              “Perfect, I love it,” he grinned, “although I’m not much of a photographer.”

              “Me neither, I only take pictures of scenery, never of people.”

              “I guess it’s all about
what
you’re shooting that counts,” he said, and snapped another as she gave him a smarmy look and raised her middle finger. “Nice! I’m going to call this one ‘Piss Off Number Three’.”

              “A total postmodern statement on social degradation and political intolerance,” she joked, trying to sound pretentious.

              “Exactly!”             

              They took turns taking more pictures of each other until both of them were laughing and they fell onto her backs. It took several moments for them to stop giggling and Shane put one hand under his head. Lying head-to-head, Lily did the same and turned toward him. Her dazzling blue eyes seemed transfixed on his, and the way they caught the golden sunlight arching under the green boughs of trees made them sparkle.

              “I feel like this is a Disney moment,” he said softly.

              “Nah, I don’t think so,” she said, still staring into his eyes.

              Shane had never actively looked into another person’s eyes for so long. There was a natural inclination to look away, and yet with Lily lying beside him, her face inches from his own, he found himself unable to blink or look away.

              “Don’t fight it,” she said, sensing his discomfort. “Have you ever just stared at someone?”

              He shook his head. “No.”

              “My best friend and I used to all the time. We’d just sit and stare into each other’s eyes, sometimes for an hour at a time. Just sitting and looking at each other. It can feel weird at first, but don’t fight it. I think it’s one of the most intimate things you can do with someone,” she said.

              He merely lifted his lips into a smile and continued to stare. For how long they lied their together on the warm forest floor gazing into each other’s eyes it was impossible to tell. The world seemed to fall away, as if it had followed the same path they’d been on earlier and gotten lost, and simply wandered away. He could feel the sun drifting over his bare skin, brushing up the borrowed T-shirt.

              Then, almost against his will, time stopped. Lily leaned in closer to him until her lips were centimeters from his own, and both of them still holding each other’s eyes like a tug-of-war. He felt her lips brush gently over his, almost a ghost of a sensation.

              He leaned into it and felt her lips press up against his and open slightly. For the first time her eyes closed and he moved against her, and tasted her inside his own mouth. They held the kiss for a long time, until it was almost comical, and he finally pulled away.

              For several seconds she kept her eyes closed, and when she opened them again a slow smile slid up her cheeks.

              “Oh, hi,” she said.

              “Oh, hi,” he repeated.