Double Shot

"Fine by me. I prefer a driver who keeps his eyes on the road." The car rode as smoothly as the leather of the seats. Watching him drive was an experience, like watching a master musician play a Steinway. He was constantly shifting up and down, weaving in and out of traffic, but always with a smoothness, so that she never realized how fast he had been going until she pulled out her phone to text Julia and realized that he had reached downtown at least five minutes faster than she would have thought possible.

"Good evening Mr. Kline. Nice to see you this evening" the valet said as he opened door for her. She'd never been to a restaurant with valet service.

"Busy tonight." Vaughn asked.

"Totally slammed. We're booked solid." he replied.

Interesting, Erica thought, booked solid yet Vaughn was able to get a table on very short notice.

The restaurant was elegant, a tall room with exposed wood beams, filled with radiant, good lucking people enjoying themselves. Beautiful chandeliers hung from the beams. Dark curtains hung down separating the dining room from the bar and also creating a few smaller private areas off to the side of the room. The room was busy, noisy, but not overwhelmingly so.

Sheila, the beautiful young hostess greeted Vaughn warmly, her greeting to Erica not quite as warm, but probably not anything Vaughn would have noticed. She quickly led them to a table in one of the private areas screened off from the rest of the restaurant.

"Can I take your drink orders." Sheila asked them.

"Do you want a cocktail, or would you like to start with a bottle of wine?" Vaughn asked.

"I'm not much for cocktails, why don't you pick a wine?" She told him.

"Okay, do you have any bottles of the Springhill 2005 Sagnee left?" Vaughn asked Sheila.

"I'm pretty sure we do. I'll be right back with it." Sheila told them as she walked away.

"What is Sagnee, I've never heard of that type of wine before?" Erica asked.

"It's actually a pinot noir rose. Very light and crisp, nice way to start an evening. Springhill is one of favorite Oregon wineries. They don't make a lot of wine, but what they do produce is very nice. We can have some of their pinot noir with dinner if that is okay with you?"

"I'll leave that up to you. I don't know much about wine. I usually order Chardonnay because I don't know what else to ask for. I find the process intimidating." In fact she was finding the whole experience a bit intimidating. She never frequented places like this, certainly without Vaughn's calm she would have felt very out of place. Yet somehow he made her feel like being by his side was where she should be.

"Bluehour is one of my hangouts. Whenever my rep comes in from New York I bring them here to show them what Portland can do. "

A tall good looking man came up to the table. "Glad you could join us tonight Vaughn." Vaughn stood up and warmly embraced him.

"Good to see you Bruce. I'm glad Carlos was able to get me in tonight, I know you're busy."

"We always keep a few tables open for our special friends, you certainly qualify as one."

"Bruce this is my friend Erica, this is her first time at Bluehour."

"Welcome to my place" he told her, shaking her hand warmly. "We'll make sure that you have an enjoyable experience."

The rest of the evening flowed like a pleasant dream. She let Vaughn order for her and found everything to be wonderful, the wine, food, and service all exemplary. Their conversation also flowed freely. Erica found herself discussing things with Vaughn that she had never told another person. There was an inherent connection that she'd never felt before.

As they sat over coffee and dessert Vaughn got a more serious expression on his face. "Erica, this has been one of the best evenings of my life. I honestly thought that I could never trust a woman again, but you are like, well I don't know if I can put it into words exactly, but I can't imagine another place in the world that I would rather be right now than sitting across from you."

"I feel the same. This whole day has been like nothing in my experience. " she responded.

"I'd like to spend more time with you, and I'd also like to ask you a question, I won't expect an answer tonight, but I want you to give it serious consideration."

"Ask away."

"I want to sculpt you. When I saw you sitting on my bed after your shower braiding your hair I was struck with the image. As I told you I haven't done a lot of human figures, but it was so beautiful, I have to capture the moment."

"You want to create a nude image of me? I'm not sure I'm comfortable enough with my body to let the whole world see it."

"It would almost certainly be bought by a private collector, if I even choose to sell it. I'm not sure I would, not unless you gave your permission. Think about it for awhile and tell me when you feel ready."

"Okay. I'll let you know."

"I really do want to spend more time with you." He continued. "I don't want this to be a one time deal. If you give me a chance I could easily see my self falling in love with you, and that is not something I thought I'd ever be able to say again."

"I've enjoyed this whole day immensely, but I don't know if I have time for a relationship right now."

As they left the restaurant her mind was twisted in knots, trying to make sense of this turn of events. "Can we walk and talk some more? I need to think about things."

"Sure, I always enjoy walking around the Pearl district." he responded.

The area around Bluehour full of stores and restaurants, always busy, especially on a Friday night. As they came out the valet, already had Vaughn's BMW waiting for them. "My apologies Chris, but Erica and I are going to stroll for a bit before heading home."

"Not to worry Mr. Kline. I'll hold it here until you get back." the young man responded.

Erica leaned into Vaughn as they walked, enjoying the secure feeling of having his powerful arm holding her.

"Tell me more about these 'missions' you go on. If I am going to spend more time with you I need to know more about that part of your life." ***

He had a decision to make at that point. Once they were together she was going to know about his extended trips. He could have explain them as being related to selling his art, but sometimes he came back pretty banged up, in fact there was a possibility that sometime he wouldn't come back at all. If he wanted this thing with the two of them to work he was going to have to tell the truth.

"As I told you before I'm not just a sculptor. If we're going to be together you have to know the full truth, or at least as much as I'm allowed to tell you. I'm also a contractor for a government agency. I get called in for projects two or three times a year, I can't tell you what I do on the projects, but it's dangerous. I'm usually gone for about a month. I sometimes come back with injuries."

"So you want me to be with you, but you'll be gone up to three months a year, and perhaps from what you are telling me, it's possible you might not come back at all? You're a hell of salesman Mr. Kline. I've already lost one man I loved, you want to set me up to lose another one?"

"I know what you're thinking." Vaughn responded. "I .."

"No you don't know what I'm thinking. You haven't lost a spouse, the pain of trying to rebuild a heart that's been torn open. And what if you come back an invalid. Not only did I lose my husband, I had to nurse him while he died a slow painful death. Today has been amazing for me. You're a beautiful man, an astounding lover, and a pleasure to be with, but I can't put myself through that kind of agony again. And if you're going to be part of my life you're going to be part of my daughter's lives, and I can't put her through that kind of loss again either. Let's go get your car, I want to go home." ***

Erica was deeply incensed. The quickness and intensity of the change of emotion surprised her. She'd been good at burying the pain of Kim's death, but it'd all come rushing back. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this mad. How could he even think that she would want to be with him if he was some kind of secret agent who risked his life on a regular basis. Memories of her husband's death surged through her mind, how hard it had been on her and Julia. She knew that Julia would like Vaughn, he was a charming charismatic man, but after what he had told her he would not get a chance to meet her.

Looking over at him, he met her eyes and nodded. He looked devastated, almost a different person than the lively funny man that she had had dinner with. They went back to the car and she got in while Vaughn tipped Chris.

They drove silently for quite some time before he spoke. "I knew I'd be taking a chance telling you what I did, but I couldn't deceive you about it. I tried that in the past and it didn't work. Can I at least sculpt you. If I can't have you, I'll have that to remember you by."

"I'll think about it. Give me your email and I'll let you know in a few days." They drove the rest of the way in silence.

He pulled up next to her car outside the coffee shop and handed her his card. She leaned over and kissed him. "Vaughn, I'm sorry it had to end on this note." She was crying as she got out and walked over to her car. ***

Their day together was six months ago, though he had been with her image almost everyday since then, first sketching, then sculpting her. Even when he had been called away on a project in Botswana he had been working on the piece in his mind as he hiked through the jungle towards the target.

It was such a relief when she'd called and told him that he could create an image of her. Even if she hadn't given permission he would have sculpted it, but then destroyed it when he was done, but with her approval he could now share her beauty with the world. He'd cleared the studio of all the other pieces, putting everything else on hold while he struggled with this creation. This was the apex of his creativity, the best he'd ever done. The workers at the foundry had agreed, a rough bunch, not easy with compliments, to a man they'd agreed that this was better than anything they'd ever had a hand in.

He had to go back to his first days as an artist to remember the last time he'd been so nervous showing a piece. But really the nervousness was not in showing the piece, but from seeing her again. He'd emailed her as soon as it was done, not trusting himself to talk with her, and now she'd be the first person other than the foundry workers to see it.

He walked around the piece with a polishing cloth, touching up a few small smudges, probably no one other than he could see, but it had to be perfect for her. She sat there on the tousled sheets of his bed, braiding her hair with the look of quiet contentment, basking in the afterglow of lovemaking. He had not been with a woman since, although the act of creating her image had been almost as intense as their love making. After six months of daily closeness to her body he felt that he knew it better than he had ever known a woman's body before.

The bell indicating that someone was coming down his driveway went off. He quickly tossed a yellow silk sheet over the piece making sure that it was completely covered, then walked over to the door to go outside and greet her. She pulled up, sat for a moment, then got out, and walked over to him. They stood facing each other for an awkward moment, then he pulled her to him. She responded by leaning into him pressing her body to his. "It has been a long six months Vaughn," she said.

"It has, although as you'll see in a moment I've had you with me the whole time," he replied with a smile.

He took her hand, reveling in the chance to again feel her skin against his even if just a hand, and led her into the studio so that she was directly in front of the draped sculpture. He walked over and swiftly pulled the sheet away exposing the art.

She stood silently, looking at it for a long moment, then walked around, stopping several times to lean and look at it more closely. "It's so beautiful, you made me so much better than I really am." She told him. "I look exactly the way I felt at that moment."

"You are wrong, I did a good job of capturing your beauty, but you're so much more in reality than I could ever hope to capture in a work of art. You've consumed me from the moment you drove away. I'm so glad that you let me do this. It will at least give me a small part of you that I can keep with me, since I can't have the real thing."

She turned and walked over to him and drew him to her, kissing him with that warm openness that he remembered from their last encounter, her sweet taste brought back all the memories of their lovemaking that he had tried to hold back.

She pulled away from their embrace. "I've fought my feelings from the moment that I walked away from you, but I'm not going to do it any longer. You've shown me here the depth of your feeling and how could any woman resist that. I was just going to come here, take a quick look and then move on with my life, but your pull is too strong."

"I tried dating since we parted, but no one ever got past kissing me. Your kiss alone was so lovely, even if we hadn't gone past that I would have had a hard time being with another man. My rational self has wrestled with my desire for the last six months, now seeing this, feeling your body against mine, tasting your sweet lips again, I can't fight it any longer. If I lose you I'll be sad and angry, but I'll savor our every moment together, and if we're lucky we'll have many years together."

This was beyond his deepest hope. He'd thought that perhaps after seeing the piece he might have a chance to see her again from time to time, but this was too perfect. All he could say was "Thank you." ***

She'd struggled for months trying to make herself regret giving Vaughn permission to make the sculpture. Initially she had been so angry there was no possible way that she could say yes, but after cooling off for a few days and thinking about the uniqueness of their time together, the intensity, she felt that she couldn't cut him off completely. So she'd called him giving her consent.

Then she'd tried to move on. Her friends had been surprised at her eagerness to start dating after fending them off before. And she had met several nice men. But that was the problem. They were just nice, eager to please, but none came close to Vaughn's alluring presence. His aura overshadowed them all. She'd almost forgotten about the sculpture, although certainly not about Vaughn, when he sent her the email inviting her to to see the finished piece.

Even though she had tried to convince herself that it was just going to be a casual visit she spent a couple of days fretting over what to wear, taking a shower and brushing her teeth right before leaving. Despite swearing to herself that nothing was going to happen, she felt a rush of desire as the car came out of the woods and she saw the barn, memories of the ecstasy that they'd shared rushing back. She sat in the car for a moment taking several deep calming breathes before getting out to meet him as he stood on the gravel parking pad next to the open door to the studio. It didn't help that it was a beautiful bright Indian summer day. Vaughn looked even better than her memory, his powerful upper body perfectly filling the tight faded red tee shirt. Not trusting herself she forced her eyes not to even look at how well he filled out his blue jeans. This was not going to be easy.

She was just going to give him a light hug, but he pulled her to him in that powerful embrace that felt as right then as it had six months before. These were the arms that were meant to hold her, this was the body she was meant to be held against. She responded to the hug, leaning her body into his. The electric force of his touch was as strong as before when he took her hand and led her into the studio.

The studio was immaculate. The only object in the large open space was a single piece in the center covered by a yellow silk sheet. The floor was spotless, tools again hung neatly above his workbench. When he pulled the sheet away it was liking looking in a mirror, but a mirror that wiped away all imperfections and only showed the things you liked about yourself.

She circled, looking at it from every angle. It was surreal, admiring this beautiful work of art, yet at the same time time knowing it was you. Looking at the piece she couldn't miss Vaughn's feelings for her. Only a man deeply smitten could have captured her image in this fashion.

She went over, and kissed him, all the longing for him that she had tried to deny welling up. Enough denial, this was the man who made her whole, and there was no use in fighting it.

He returned the kiss, then moved around behind her, kissing her neck as he did. His skillful hands caressed her breasts through her shirt. As they worked her nipples, desire flowed to her pussy. The feeling of his cock hardening against her back increased those feelings. His hands unbuttoned her shirt then stroked her belly as they moved down to unbutton her pants, then his right hand reached under her panties to stroke between her legs, while his left hand reached behind her to unfasten her bra. As it loosened the hand came back around to work her nipples directly. All the while his mouth continued caress her neck and shoulders.

Those glorious hands worked their gentle magic, stroking the exact places to created the most intense feelings. He relieved her of her shirt and bra, then pulled down her pants and panties. He undressed himself while continuing to stroke and tease her breasts and pussy, working his finger into the rapidly moistening depths between her legs. His now fully stiffened cock pressed against her butt.

His powerful yet gentle fingers stroked and teased her private places. One hand working her nipples, the other probing between her legs, playing her pleasure points like the strings of a guitar. Unconscious moans of joy came from her mouth. After all the months of delay it only took a few moments for his hands to bring her to a powerful crescendo of joy, her moans turning into cries of pleasure echoing through the open studio.

He guided her to kneel on the yellow silk sheet, then he pushed his throbbing member into her anxiously waiting love chasm. The feeling was exquisite as the length of his cock moved deeply in and out of her. At the same time his hands continued to work the rest of her body. She turned her head and kissed him, their exploring tongues tangling together. When their kiss was completed he worked his mouth on the back of her neck, gently nipping at the skin, bringing more sensations of pleasure. She leaned forward on to the sheet, feeling the cool smoothness of the silk caress her nipples.

The speed of his thrusts increased, as the waves of pleasure rose again, each powerful thrust pushing them higher and higher, until they came, their voices mingling like their bodies as they cried out their release in unison. She reveled in the feeling of his cock pulsing as it released it's juices inside of her. They collapsed to the floor laying on the sheet feeling the coolness of the concrete below it. Falling asleep tangled in his powerful arms, she knew that this was exactly where she was meant to be.