Oregon Coast Ch. 02

A lot of murmurs of agreement.

"Let me tell you guys something. When you grow up, smart women get their pick of men. If Ms. Lydia doesn't pick me, what can I do about it?"

That seemed to make sense to them, and they calmed down. I heard a familiar voice from the other side of the truck.

"What's going on here? Do you ladies and gentlemen not have enough work to do? I could assign another book report for the weekend!"

The crowd shrank rapidly. There stood Lydia in full on teacher mode. Even bossing her kids around she looked cute. Damn, this was getting bad. I helped her up into the truck and went around to put her mountain bike in the back. Apparently I enjoyed helping her up into the truck a little too much. There was a whisper from one of the last kids lingering around.

"I saw that look, man! You Hot for Teacher!"

Some of the other kids picked it up and the mutters grew.

"Hot for Teacher! Hot for Teacher!"

I cranked the truck and got the hell out of there before Lydia heard. I thought I caught a little smirk on her face, but she didn't say anything or treat me any better.

The next time I had to pick Lydia up, two weeks later, she ordered me to meet her at a Starbuck's six blocks from her school. She came flying into the lot on her mountain bike just as I settled down to wait, and I met her and tossed the bike into my truck as usual.

"Want some coffee?"

"No, let's just get going."

She climbed up into my truck without assistance and turned to me as I started it up.

"Hey, what did you say to my kids last time you picked me up?"

"Just chatted a little. Why?"

"Ever since then they've been telling me I should go out with you. The girls think you're cute and the boys are impressed by the truck."

"What do you think?"

"If this thing wasn't constantly full of tools, I would think you were compensating for other shortcomings!"

"Nice dodge! I told them that grown up smart women get their pick of men, and you aren't interested in me."

"Not beautiful women?"

"Teenage girls worry too much about that already. I figured it wouldn't hurt to push the idea of brains instead of beauty for a change."

"Maybe you're smarter than you look!"

"As Grandpa would have added, that's a lucky thing! Just for the record, though, I agreed with them that you're very pretty."

"How on Earth did that come up? Not that I'm agreeing with you."

"This one big red headed kid was ready to punch me because he thought I didn't respect you enough."

"Jimmy, that would be. The last boyfriend who hit his mom ended up in the hospital. The doctors said it looked like he was beaten with a 2x4, but everyone claimed he fell down the stairs. The cops figured he had it coming and didn't investigate. I keep trying to convince Jimmy that violence isn't the way to deal with problems, but I'm fighting a lot of bad history."

"At least he knows you care, and that counts for a lot. He obviously worships you."

"You know, if you weren't a rich wiseass, you would have the makings of a pretty good guy."

"I can't be both?"

"Not in my experience!"

And there it was again. She turned to stare out her window and wouldn't speak to me the rest of the ride. After a lifetime of women falling over me because of my money, here was one I was seriously attracted to who couldn't stand rich guys. As I said, being wealthy isn't as great as it sounds.

When we got to the riverside estate where the garden party was being held (Mom knows all the right people) Lydia hugged Jennifer, had a quick whispered conversation, and disappeared. When she came back she had swapped her baggy jeans and sweater for a form fitting green linen sundress the exact color of her eyes. Damn, she really did have curves when she dressed like a pretty girl instead of a Goth or a straitlaced teacher. She was being her usual friendly, funny self, and I could feel myself turning the color of her dress as she effortlessly deflected the series of men who tried to chat her up.

"Pull your tongue in, John, you're drooling on the floor!"

"Oh, hi, Jen. Does she even realize how gorgeous she is?"

Jennifer cracked up. That's what I get for speaking without thinking.

"You really have it bad, don't you? Does she act like she cares that she's beautiful? I had to talk her into turning on the glamour for this party!"

Having once turned down a large contract with Ford Models, Jen was more than secure about other pretty women.

"I might as well try to punch my way through a concrete wall."

"I bet she'd dance with the guy what brung her. Why don't you go ask?"

To my surprise, she did feel like dancing when I asked her. When I got her out on the floor, the band suddenly switched to a waltz. Jen, no doubt. Lydia looked trapped but gamely stepped up and took my hand, putting her other hand on my shoulder as I put my hand on her shoulder blade. I had hated ballroom dance class as a skinny kid, but I discovered when I got older that it impressed a lot of girls. Lydia fell smoothly into step. Obviously I wasn't the only one who suffered through ballroom dance class. She stifled a yawn.

"Come on, the band isn't that boring!"

"Long week at work and some good champagne. Don't take it personally."

As the music played on, her eyes drifted shut and her cheek- and both her hands- came to rest on my chest. She smelled of Chanel No. 5. I caressed her back, bare almost to her waist, and she made a small happy noise. Her hands slid around my wist and she made herself comfortable up against me. I was struggling not to let her feel how much I was enjoying the moment.

All too soon, the music stopped. She drifted on for a couple more steps. I bent to whisper to her. Even her ears were pretty.

"Hey, sleepyhead?"

She made a noise of protest and wiggled closer. Then her eyes popped open with a panicked look. She pushed me away frantically.

"What are you doing!"

"I didn't do anything but dance with you! You're the one who cuddled up to me!"

Not the time to let on that I had been about to check if her lip gloss tasted as good as it looked.

"Well...well, knock it off, anyway! I'm just tired! I'm not attracted to you, remember?"

"Like you'd let me forget!"

She stormed off, leaving me to face a hundred raised eyebrows and one knowing grin from Jen, peeping over Brian's wide shoulder. Women! Aaargh!

The next time I was over at the school Jimmy was hanging around out front.

"Hey, I have to tell you I'm sorry for getting mad at you the last time you were here."

"It's OK to stick up for your friends. Hitting someone should be a last resort, though, not the first thing you think of."

"That's what Ms. Lydia keeps telling me. I'm working on it. You been out logging?"

"Basically, yeah. We're trying to find a way to harvest some overgrown trees without disturbing an eagle's nest."

His eyes lit up.

"You actually see eagles out there? Cool!"

"They're fun to watch. Hey, we're going to be out there working Saturday. You want to come along?"

If he had been a puppy he would have been wagging his hind end off.

"Seriously? Hell, yes!"

"Watch your language, bud, and ask your mom before you say yes."

"Aw, she doesn't care as long as I'm out of the way."

"Ask her anyway. My job site, my rules. And don't say anything to Ms. Lydia about it."

"Why not?"

"I know how she feels about you kids. I'd rather get between a momma bear and her cub than have her think I was using one of you to impress her."

He grinned.

"Yeah, she can be like that. They tried to suspend me once for shoving this junior who was bullying a retarded kid and I couldn't believe how mad she got."

"You see what I mean, then. And you shouldn't call those kids retarded."

"Whatever. I'm not about to stand there and watch someone get picked on when he can't defend himself. You really like her, don't you?"

"That's grownup's business, bud. Get me a note from your mom saying it's OK to go with us Saturday."

"Yeah, yeah, pull the grownup card!"

"You want to go or not?"

"Enough said!"

Jimmy had a great time that Saturday. My crew is mostly big hearted guys who don't have a lot of formal education but know their trade inside and out, and they enjoyed showing a wide eyed city kid the big, noisy machinery they use. The eagles put in an appearance, and a black bear wandered out of the woods and down the dirt logging road at one point. The whole way back he couldn't stop talking about how cool it all was. I told him that he was welcome to come anytime as long as he was caught up on his homework and not in disciplinary trouble at school, and he started becoming a regular out there. I even started paying him a few bucks to do the gofer work around the site. He started catching on that real men respect skill and hard work, not violence. Lydia mentioned the change she was seeing in him, but of course I didn't let on that my crew and I might have had something to do with it.

When the big weekend arrived, Mom had the rehearsal dinner out at the beach house catered. She figured that we were the closest thing to a family Brian had, and was thrilled to be part of the festivities-especially since (as she loved to point out) Dave and I had horrible taste in women and were unlikely to find a decent female to marry in her lifetime. Jennifer, of course, she thought of as the daughter she never had, and I caught an extra dose of sarcasm for "letting Brian snatch her out from under my nose". Jen and I just grinned at each other- I love her like a sister, but we both knew before she met Brian that that's as far as it goes.

After dinner, which was accompanied by a lot of wine (we do own a winery, after all) some of the girls started teasing her, asking when she and I were going to get married. Lydia was doing a slow burn, hating the idea but not wanting to say so in front of my parents. Finally she jumped up.

"You clowns are drunk! I'm going to walk down to the ocean- maybe the crabs will have something intelligent to say!"

I called out "Hey, grab a flashlight off the counter!"

There was a Whap! Whap! sound as Mom and Jennifer simultaneously dope-slapped me.

"Oh, uh... let me grab a jacket and a flashlight and walk with you!"

"That's better, you clod!" came a whisper from Jennifer.

Lydia didn't wait, and I had to run to catch up with her. She still looked mad when I did.

"I didn't ask you to come out here!"

"No, but if something happens to you my life won't be worth living. We need you for tomorrow!"

I tried my best charming grin, which wasn't that effective in the dark.

"Anyway, how can I miss the pleasure of your company? Aren't you in love with me?"

"Jerk! Wiseass!"

She spun and tried to take a swing at me, only to stumble. The seagrass on the dunes creates deep wind-blown pits in the sand where it's thin, and she had stepped into one. I grabbed her wrist, partially in self-defense and partially to save her from falling, and she came around and swung with the other hand. I grabbed that one too and put a foot in the pit myself. We rolled over and over, finally ending up at the bottom of the pit some six feet down with me on top holding her wrists over her head. I saw the look in her eyes and shifted just in time to catch her knee on my thigh instead of where she was aiming. We panted for a second and stared at each other. Her eyes softened a little.

"You going to let me up?"

I released her wrists and slid my hands under her shoulders to cradle her head. There was that smell of Chanel No. 5 again.

"I don't think so."

"What the hell..."

I brushed my lips over hers. She squealed in outrage and stiffened for a second. I kissed her again, about ready to give up if she didn't respond. In the back of my mind I was wondering whether she would punch me or give me the "I just don't like you that way" speech, and which would hurt more. Then she sighed, her mouth opened under mine and I felt her arms wrap around my neck.

Suddenly we couldn't get enough of each other. It was warm down out of the wind and we started pulling each other's clothes off in a frenzy, stopping as soon as we had clearance for what we needed to do. She wrapped her legs around me and I slid into her in one long, smooth thrust, pausing as I was fully engulfed. I had waited for this for a long,long time, and I wasn't going to rush it. She looked up at me.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"Don't stop now, dammit!"

I didn't. The surf was roaring, the wind was whistling, and we were moving in time to both of them as the stars wheeled over our heads. Her screams of ecstasy as her orgasm hit were swallowed by the wind, as was my triumphant shout. We laid there for a few minutes, unsure what had happened. Then I picked myself up and sat next to her. She spoke first.

"Oh. My. God. I don't believe we just did that!"

I picked up her hand and kissed it.

"Yeah, that was kind of a shock to me too. Good one, though!"

"Apparently you do have some useful skills. Help me up."

I pulled her to her feet and helped her sort her clothing into some sort of order. Some of it was beyond sorting.

"I guess I owe you new panties."

"Forget it, dude, you're not buying me lingerie! Besides, you can't get those outside of France!"

Huh? Another mystery to think about some other time. She studied the torn scrap of lace for a second and then stuffed it into her pocket and said to herself,

"What the hell, it was worth it."

I took her hand and pulled her up out of the sand pit and we started back toward the house, hand in hand, both deep in thought. She elbowed me suddenly.

"This doesn't mean I like you!"

I pulled her in for a quick kiss that got a little out of hand before we broke apart and resumed the walk.

"I'm going to have to work on that, then. If this is how you treat men you don't like, I can't wait to see what you do to the ones you do!"

She elbowed me again.

"It's not like I do stuff like this all the time, you know!"

"I know. I figured out a long time ago that there's a lot more to you than meets the eye. What I can't figure out is what you've got against me!"

"I swore off rich playboys a long time ago. I'm starting to suspect that there's more to you than that, though."

"Playboy? I work for a living!"

"Yeah, but you don't need to. You're getting my prejudices all mixed up."

We walked silently for a while. She sighed.

"Lord, I have sand in places you would not believe!"

"I have a bathtub in my room."

"I suppose you want to share it?"

"Well, I'm pretty sandy too, and there's a water shortage."

"Yeah, you'd like that."

"Yeah, I sure would!"

"Let's keep it quiet, then. Tomorrow is Jennifer's big day and she doesn't need everyone talking about what other people are doing."

We snuck down the hallway to my room on tiptoe, hand in hand, stifling our giggles like a couple of naughty kids. I filled the clawfoot tub, stripped, and jumped in, and Lydia came in the bathroom a few minutes later wrapped in a towel, which she quickly dropped and joined me. We soaked for a while.

"Wow, that feels good!"

"Sure does... Say, if you're a natural blonde, why the hell do you dye your hair black?"

"Thanks for noticing, you horndog! With blonde hair I look like a country club airhead. Black hair feels more me."

"I think I'd like you either way."

"Glad to hear it... Hey, glad I missed with the knee!"

She placed a hand on the bruise that was forming on the front of my thigh and stroked gently.

"Not half as glad as I am!"

"Yeah, it would have been a real waste."

Her wrist bumped something, and she explored a little further.

"I'm not about to let this go to waste either!"

I was at full attention by this time.

"Good plan, but let's try to keep the water in the tub."

"Last one in bed has to be on the bottom!"

I let her win. This time was even better, with her moving slowly on top of me, trying to keep bed noises down, while I did my best to make her lose control. It was a game we both won.

"Maybe I do like you a little..." she decided sleepily. It didn't come as a total surprise, since she was curled up against me with her head on my bicep and my other arm wrapped securely around her, that hand full of her bare left breast. Her small hand was lazily playing with my free hand. "Right now, though, I have to go back to my own bed."

My arms instinctively tightened.

"I like having you right where you are. You know how long I've wanted to get you here?"

She turned over in my arms and kissed me gently.

"Of course I know. You think I couldn't tell you had a crush on me? It was easier to keep being mean than to admit that I misjudged you and that the feeling was mutual."

She smiled.

"If I had known how much fun this was going to be, I would have swallowed my pride a lot sooner!"

"What changed your mind?"

"Well, Jen kept telling me what a great guy you are. But it was Jimmy, mostly. You did a lot for that kid."

"Damn it, he promised not to tell you!"

"He didn't! Nothing stays secret for long in a high school, though."

"That why I'm not allowed on campus?"

"You should hear these kids."

Her voice suddenly got ten years younger.

"'Oh my GOD, Caitlyn, have you SEEN that hot guy who's always hanging around waiting for Ms. Lydia?' 'The one with the COOL truck? Have you seen how he LOOKS at her? I hear he told Jimmy that he thinks she's really hot, but she won't go out with him.' 'What is UP with her? A hottie like that drooling over her and she blows him off? She doesn't have a boyfriend, does she? Oh my GOD, is she GAY?'"

I laughed.

"You're about as far from gay as they get, thank God. Not that I don't respect that, but I have plans that wouldn't work out if you were. So Jimmy gets to keep his job?"

"When he found out that I knew he was working for you on weekends he was really upset and made me promise that I wouldn't say anything or hold it against you."

"He's a good kid at heart. He just needed some help figuring out how to be a real man. Speaking of holding stuff against me, I like what you're holding against me right now."

She snuggled a little closer.

"I like being here, too. You really make a girl feel warm and safe. Thing is, you know as well as I do that if I stay we're not going to get a lot of sleep, and I don't want to be standing in front of everyone we know tomorrow looking like I spent the night doing exactly what we've been doing."

"It sucks, but you're probably right. We'll have other nights."

"You better believe it!"

I reluctantly let her go, and she crawled out of bed and helped herself to one of my old T-shirts. It's amazing how sexy an old Man U shirt can look when it's the only piece of clothing on a pretty woman two sizes too small for it.

"I'm never going to wash that shirt again."

"I guess I better keep it, then."

"Here we go. It starts with a T-shirt, and next thing you know..."

She grinned.

"Two hours ago I intended to go to bed in my pajamas in my own room instead of naked in yours. You complaining?"

"Not a bit!"

I pulled her back on top of me briefly, and with one long last kiss she was gone.

The rest of the weekend we kept our hands off each other and focused on getting Brian and Jennifer married in style. It worked, too, although I was afraid that Brian was going to pass out when Jennifer appeared at the back of the aisle, a vision in white looking more beautiful than any woman has a right to. We held him steady, he said his lines at the right time, the deed was done, and they took off for their honeymoon looking ridiculously happy.

Lydia wandered over to me as the rest of us were packing up and getting ready to head back to our everyday lives. She looked a little nervous.

"Hey, dummy, remember I lived with Jen for years? Her number is my number now that she's moving in with Brian. I know you've got it, so use it or lose it!"